Stock-market ETFs edge higher as Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as running mate in race for White House

Moves in stock-index exchange traded funds were muted after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden Tuesday evening announced that he had selected California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate in the 2020 election. The pick is significant because 77-year old Biden would be the oldest president elected since Donald Trump took office in 2017. Harris, who is 55, is the first Black American woman to run on a major national party ticket. She served as California's attorney general and San Francisco's chief prosecutor before becoming a U.S. senator. Biden and Harris will appear together on Wednesday in Wilmington, Del., to deliver joint remarks, Biden's campaign said. Markets view presidential picks through the lens of the impact on the economy and the candidates overall financial market. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust /zigman2/quotes/209901640/composite SPY +1.84% was trading 0.3% higher in after-hours trade Tuesday, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust /zigman2/quotes/208954582/composite DIA +1.83% was trading up 0.2% in after-hours action, while the Invesco QQQ Trust Series I, also known as the Qs, were trading 0.5% higher after the closing bell. In the regular session, the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.95% finished off 0.8% at 3,333, led by declines in utilities /zigman2/quotes/206645117/composite XLU +1.63% , off 2.1%, real estate, down 1.9%, and information technology /zigman2/quotes/207444675/composite XLK +1.89% closing 1.8% lower. Tech and tech-related shares, part of the market's leadership in the recovery from coronavirus-induced lows put in on March 23, have been taken a breather over the past several sessions as investors presumably rotate into other sectors that of the market that have been under-loved. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +1.85% closed down 0.4% at around 27,687, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite index /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP +1.55% finished down 1.7% at about 10,783. Biden currently leads incumbent President Donald Trump by 7.2 percentage points in an average of national polls, according to RealClear Politics .