By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - The Dow notched its biggest monthly gain in over three decades Monday, despite falling on souring U.S.-China tensions amid reports the Trump administration is considering blacklisting two major Chinese companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%, or 271 points, but was up about 10% for November, the biggest monthly gain since January 1987. The S&P 500 was down 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.06%.
Sentiment on stocks made a soft start to the week on reports that Chinese chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC (NYSE:CEO) could be ban from accessing US investors
On top of rising U.S.-China tensions, profit-taking on value stocks on concerns about a surge in infections over the coming weeks following the Thanksgiving holiday also weighed on sentiment.
"There is almost certainly going to be an uptick because of what has happened with the travel," Dr. Anthony Fauci, top infectious disease expert, told CNN's State of the Union.
Energy was among the biggest decliners across the value sector, paced by weakness in oil prices as major producers meet to discuss whether to extend its output cuts that have helped limit the blow from falling demand in the wake of the pandemic.
Industrials were also in the red as airlines fell sharply following a weaker outlook from JetBlue.
JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) fell 3% after guiding fourth-quarter revenue to drop 70% year-over-year, compared with the prior guidance of a 65% decrease.
The company said booking trends remain volatile and expected revenue recovery will be nonlinear through the fourth quarter and beyond.
American Airlines Group fell nearly 6%, (NASDAQ:AAL) Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) slipped 2%, while United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) slipped 0.5%.
Tech, meanwhile, struggled to advanced as the Fab 5, with the exception of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), continued to stutter.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) were in the red.
On the stimulus front, the Federal Reserve said it would extend four of its lending programs due to expire at year-end to the end of the first quarter.
In other news, Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) is reportedly set to announce its acquisition of Slack Technologies (NYSE:WORK) on Tuesday after the market closes, CNBC reported citing sources.
Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) slumped 37%, meanwhile, after General Motors (NYSE:GM) said that it would not be taking a stake in the electric automaker but would supply its fuel-cell technology to the company.