Stocks end slightly lower as investors wait for Biden’s stimulus package

Shares ditched early gains to end slightly lower on Thursday as investors awaited the rollout of President-elect Joe Biden’s plan for another round of large-scale federal spending to deal with an economy suffering from another surge cases of COVID-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
-0.22%
finished with a loss of around 69 points, or 0.2%, to nearly 30,992, according to preliminary figures, while the S&P 500 SPX,
-0.38%
dropped 14 points, or 0.4%, finishing nearly 3,796. The Nasdaq Composite COMP,
-0.12%
closed near 13113, around 16 points, or 0.1%. Biden is expected to unveil a spending plan Thursday night that could approach $ 2 trillion, according to news reports, including another round of checks directly to households. Ahead of Thursday’s opening bell, data showed a larger than expected increase in first-time jobless claims.