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Summary
- S&P 500 rose 0.10%, Dow Jones was up 0.90%, and NASDAQ shed 0.59%.
- Europe’s coronavirus woes intensify as vaccination drive falls behind schedule.
- Ant Group CEO Simon Hu steps down as China cracks the whip on tech companies.
US indices wrapped up the week mixed on Friday as stocks across sectors saw modest gains with investors’ growing enthusiasm to dabble in new opportunities opened up by a brightening economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.10% to 3943.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.90% to 32778.64. The NASDAQ Composite Index shed 0.59% to 13319.86, and the small-cap Russell 2000 ticked up 0.61% to 2352.79.
Tech stocks rebounded this week after a brief interlude amid rising bond yields and rate fears. The indexes saw modest gains on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden signed the US$1.9 covid relief bill into law, which pledges assistance for workers and American families, small businesses, emergency capital investment, and pandemic control, among others.
This significant fiscal support, coupled with a sympathetic monetary policy, has encouraged investors to look beyond the blue-chip stocks to areas like energy, banking, retail, and auto, which are closely tied to economic health. The optimism of faster growth has pulled up these stocks.
The 10-year bond yields rose again on Friday after investors offloaded their holdings to obtain funds for future investments. The Treasury bills were up 1.626% from 1.527% on the previous day.
President Biden said on Thursday that covid vaccines will be available to all adult Americans by May as he outlined the stimulus package on national television, hours after he signed the bill into law. His speech highlighted the government’s resolve to accelerate reopening and spur growth.
Meanwhile, the news of China’s latest crackdown on tech companies drew fresh attention to the communist government’s strict rules. Chinese regulators have fined some dozen companies, including Tencent and Baidu, over their overseas accounts and alleged monopolistic practices.
China had previously stopped Jack Ma’s Ant Group IPO in a controversial decision last year. Ant CEO Simon Hu stepped down on Friday, citing personal grounds. Group’s Chairman Eric Jing to replace him, the company said in a statement.
Europe’s coronavirus woes intensified this week as new cases outpaced vaccinations. American companies looking to European markets to boost sales after the lockdown would be concerned at the gloomy outlook as governments may renew some of their earlier harsher restrictions.
In Friday’s session, real estate, utilities, financials, industrials, consumer non-cyclicals, basic materials, and energy ticked up, while technology, healthcare, and consumer cyclicals pulled back.
Pic Credit: Pixabay.
Also read: Tencent Stocks Dip Amid China’s Anti-Trust Crackdown
Top Gainers
Top performers on S&P 500 included ViacomCBS Inc (9.80%), L Brands Inc (8.83%), Boeing Co (6.31%), and Discovery Inc (6.17%). On NASDAQ, top performers were Trip.com Group Ltd (5.12%), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (3.53%), and Fox Corp (2.51%), and Fox Corp (1.93%). On Dow Jones, Boeing Co (6.39%), Caterpillar Inc (3.94%), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (3.55%), and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (1.87%) were among the leaders.
Top Losers
Top laggards on S&P 500 included Ulta Beauty Inc (-7.62%), Cadence Design Systems Inc (-3.40%), Lennar Corp (-3.35%), and APA Corp (US) (-3.29%). On NASDAQ, DocuSign Inc (-6.72%), JD.Com Inc (-6.61%), Peloton Interactive Inc (-5.65%), and Okta Inc (-5.06%) were the losers. On Dow Jones, Salesforce.Com Inc (-1.55%), Apple Inc (-0.86%), Visa Inc (-0.76%), and Microsoft Corp (-0.70%) were among the laggards.
Image Source: EODHD/Others, NASDAQ 6-Month price chart, March 12, 2021.
Volume Movers
Top volume movers included General Electric Co (14.82mn), Ford Motor Co (14.00mn), Apple Inc (13.06mn), American Airlines Group Inc (8.26mn), AT&T Inc (8.21mn), Bank of America Corp (5.62mn), Tesla Inc (5.56mn), ViacomCBS Inc (5.55mn), JD.Com Inc (6.48mn), Facebook Inc (5.55mn), Microsoft Corp (4.78mn), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (4.49mn), Intel Corp (4.13mn), Boeing Co (2.92mn), and Coca-Cola Co (2.86mn).
Futures & Commodities
Gold futures were up 0.02% to $1,722.95 per ounce, silver prices dropped 0.83% to $25.975 per ounce, and copper was up 0.29% to $4.1510.
Brent oil futures were down 0.60% to $69.21 and WTI crude dropped 0.65% to $65.59 per barrel.
Bond Market
The 30-year treasury bond yields were up 4.62% to 2.386, while the 10-year bond yields surged 6.51% to 1.626.
US Dollar Futures Index was up 0.25% to 91.650.
Also read: JD's Revenue Growth Indicates E-Commerce Boom In China
According to some analysts on Friday, the gap between value stocks and growth stocks has been widening fast in anticipation of a strong rebound by next year. The rapid pace of vaccine distribution and stimulus will aid recovery, they say. It has also raised expectations of robust growth of cyclical stocks, such as banks and energy scrips, demonstrated by the recent upswing of these sectors.
Tech stocks, which had enjoyed a roller-coaster ride in 2020, will face stiffer competition in the coming months as the economy continues to improve, analysts say.
However, investors would also be mindful of the developments abroad. China, which remains a major market for many US companies, would be of key interest. Friday’s developments may have left some companies jittery about the strict Communist policies for businesses.
