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Stocks wavered on Wednesday, as the White House unveiled details of a $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan, data on employment came in strong, and investors kept watch on bond yields, which have been creeping higher.
The
lost 85 points, or 0.3%. The
was 0.4% higher, while the
was up 1.5%.
For the quarter, the Dow and S&P 500 were up 7.8% and 5.8%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.8% for the quarter as tech stocks—previously the bright spot in the market—lost some of their luster as bond yields rose.
And many stocks had gains this quarter that eclipsed the major indices. Ford (ticker: F) gained 39% this quarter, its steepest move since 2009. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) was up 37.7%, its best quarterly gain since 1982.
Wall Street was also paying attention to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan Wednesday—which would center on bridges, roads, and transportation—and the total amount spent would be stretched over eight years. To finance the plan, Biden would like to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, though a few centrist Democrats may push to curb the increase to less than 28%.
Tuesday saw losses for U.S. indexes after the yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit 1.77% before recovering. That yield was at 1.75% on Wednesday.
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In economic news, the ADP employment report showed that 517,000 private-sector jobs were created in March. It was the biggest gain in six months and a sign that the economy continues to gain steam as more people are vaccinated for Covid-19. The news comes ahead of government data nonfarm payrolls for March expected on Friday, a day that will see U.S. exchanges closed in observance of Good Friday.
Elsewhere, the
was down 0.2%, and London’s
index fell 0.9%. Shares of the food delivery service Deliveroo, which is backed by online retailer
tumbled 13% in a much-anticipated London debut.
The
dropped 0.9%, with shares of
slumping 3.1%, a day after it became the latest global bank to warn over the impact of a margin call at Archegos Capital Management. The bank said its European unit took a loss on a U.S. client it is currently estimating to be $300 million.
China’s
index slid 0.9%, even after the country’s economic recovery revved up in March. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index reached a three-month high of 51.9 in March, beating February’s 50.6 reading and forecasts for 51.2 from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
(ticker: COUR) shares made their debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday and saw shares climb 36.4%.
Meanwhile,
(ACHL) debuted on the Nasdaq and shares fell 8.1%.
stock (CHWY) surged 5.4%, still gaining in the wake of the surprise profit it reported on Tuesday evening.
(HOG) shares rose 6.9% after Baird upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral.
(AAPL) shares are up 1.9% after UBS upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.
(SQ) shares were up 6.7% after Keefe Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform.
(KMX) shares fell 2.3% after Seaport Global Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy.
Write to Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com
