Asian shares skid despite US economic stimulus deal | Business News

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, a day after it and other major indexes returned to record heights. The decline snapped a three-day winning streak for the benchmark index, but it still notched a 1.3% weekly gain that more than made up its prior week’s loss.

Friday was a quadruple “witching day,” Wall Street-speak for the quarterly expiration of stock options and futures contracts, which forces traders to tie up loose ends in contracts they hold, leading to particularly heavy trading volume.

The S&P 500 index fell 13.07 points to 3,709.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4% to 30,179.05. The Nasdaq composite gave up 0.1% to 12,755.64. The Russell 2000 dropped 0.4% to 1,969.99.

The worsening pandemic has been tightening its chokehold on the economy Reports last week showed more workers are applying for jobless benefits and sales for retailers slumped by more last month than economists…