Dow, S&P 500 fall after Pfizer vaccine roll-out

It was a mixed finish on Wall Street Monday despite the rollout of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.

The Dow finished 184-points lower after touching a fresh intra-day high. The S&P 500 dipped 15 points into the close. But the Nasdaq rose 62 points.

Lack of movement on stimulus talks in Washington was a drag as lawmakers appeared no closer to a COVID relief bill.

But that's ok - says Ryan Payne of Payne Capital Management – who says the vaccine rollout has even greater potential to juice growth.

"Maybe it's not tomorrow we get the stimulus bill. But I have to think now and sometime in January, maybe after the Senate race, they're going to pass something. And I think that's important. But I think the bigger stimulus is the fact that we have a big vaccine coming out, or vaccines. And that is essentially what's going to drive this economy further, because once you start getting hiring again in hospitality and leisure, once you get restaurants open again, that's going to be so many jobs created that right now are still on hold."

But for now, the so-called reopening trade fizzled. Travel and tourism stocks reversed their gains as investors perceived the vaccine rollout as a small step in a long road towards a return to normal. Norwegian Cruise Line fell 4 percent. Royal Caribbean was down 3. Carnival lost nearly 2 percent.

As for the airlines: United was the biggest mover to the downside - down more than 3 percent.

Shares of Pfizer, which have run up on successful clinical trial results, fell 4-1/2 percent.

Rival drug maker AstraZeneca launched one of the biggest corporate takeovers of the year. It offered to buy Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion. U.S.-listed shares of AstraZeneca tumbled nearly 8 percent.