EDITOR'S NOTE

It’s been a while since Wall Street has been in this kind of a funk.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 logged their first four-week decline since August 2019, falling 1.8% and 0.6%, last week. Those declines came amid concern over another potential wave of coronavirus cases and lingering uncertainty around a new U.S. fiscal stimulus bill.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday the country was at a “perilous turning point” and reinstated some lockdown measures. Cases also surged in France and Spain. In the U.S., the national seven-day average rose nearly 9% through Thursday from the prior week.

On the stimulus front, House Democrats are preparing a $2.4 trillion relief package that they could vote on as soon as next week, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC. However, that price tag remains well above what Republicans have said they would support.

At one point, the Dow was down more than 3% for the week and the S&P 500 had lost more than 2% over that time period.  However, a late-week surge in tech stocks lifted both indexes from their lows of the week and helped the Nasdaq Composite snap a three-week slide.

Looking ahead to next week, traders could see further market volatility with the first presidential debate taking place on Tuesday and the last U.S. jobs report before the election set for release on Friday.

MICHAEL SANTOLI'S MARKET COLUMN

THE WEEK AHEAD

YOUR WEEKEND BRIEFING