Markets end mixed

Shares on Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday in choppy trading, as investors took advantage of the previous session’s slump to buy them back, ahead of the outcome of the Senate runoff elections in the battleground state of Georgia, which will determine the balance of power in Washington. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 167.71 points, or 0.55%, to 30,391.6, the S&P 500 gained 26.21 points, or 0.71%, to 3,726.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 120.51 points, or 0.95%, to 12,818.96.

European stocks slipped on Tuesday as losses in defensive sectors offset gains in oil and retail stocks, while investors looked past a new national lockdown in Britain to curb a surge in coronavirus cases. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2%, following losses on Wall Street over worries about Senate runoffs in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Maltese markets nudged higher, with the MSE Equity Total Return Index closing up 0.10% to 8,456.774 points, as four stocks traded, with only two recording a change in price. Malta International Airport Plc gained 0.81% to €6.20 while Main Street Complex Plc lost 0.4 percent to €0.498.

Trump bans transactions from eight Chinese apps

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay mobile payment app, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The order argues that the United States must take “aggressive action” against developers of Chinese software applications to protect national security.

The order also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate which is published by Alibaba Group subsidiary UCWeb, and Beijing Kingsoft Office Software’s WPS Office. The order aims to cement Trump’s tough-on-China legacy before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden, a Democrat, who has said little about how he plans to address specific tech threats from China.

Biden could, however, revoke the order on the first day of his presidency, though his transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Source: Reuters

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