U.S. markets fall amid ongoing stimulus talks, tech stocks rise as Snap soars

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. markets fell slightly Wednesday as surging tech stocks helped to fend off losses due to concerns over ongoing efforts by Congress to produce another round of COVID-19 stimulus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 97.97 points, or 0.35%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.22% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.28%.

Markets were up earlier in the day, with the Dow trading more than 100 points higher, but declined as Senate Republicans were unable to pass an updated "skinny" COVID-19 relief package and negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to produce a deal.

Pelosi on Wednesday said she hoped both sides can resolve the "appropriations piece" of the coronavirus aid bill later Wednesday and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Pelosi and Mnuchin made "good progress" in negotiations but "still have a ways to go" before reaching an agreement.

Goldman Sachs stock fell 2.46% and Boeing dropped 2.02%, making them the worst-performing members of the Dow.

David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management told CNN he doesn't believe a stimulus package will be passed before the election predicting "sounds of screeching breaks going into the fourth quarter."

"We won't have a full recovery until we deal with the pandemic," said Kelly.

Netflix stock fell 6.92% following a disappointing earnings report Tuesday but social media stocks helped to push tech stocks higher. Snap stock soared 28.34% after reporting better-than-anticipated results for the prior quarter, while Twitter climbed 8.35%, Facebook gained 4.17% and Google's parent company, Alphabet, closed the day up 2.25%.

Wednesday continued a roller-coaster week for markets after they fell due to stimulus concerns on Monday but rose Tuesday after Pelosi said she was "optimistic" about a deal.