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Stocks traded mixed on Friday, after losses triggered by fears of tax increases on wealthy households.
The
was down 39 points, or 0.1%. The
was up 0.2%. The
rose 0.5%.
In Asia, the Hong Kong Hang Seng stood out with a 1.1% gain, while the
slipped 0.6% and stocks in
fell 0.4%. Soaring Covid-19 infections and a lack of oxygen tanks continued to overwhelm Indian hospitals. In Europe, the
was down 0.6% and headed for its first weekly loss in eight weeks, despite upbeat purchasing managers index data.
Thursday saw harsh selling as news broke that President
Joe Biden
would propose a drastic capital-gains tax increase on wealthy individuals. This would lower the after tax return in stocks, making them less attractive. Investors have shown a tendency to buy shallow dips for months.
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“The big problem (one of many) in all this is the Senate—it would require support of all the Democrats in the upper chamber and this is far from assured,” said
Neil Wilson,
chief market analyst at Markets.com, of that potential wealth-tax increase, in a note to clients.
“Nevertheless, coming off record highs and a good run up through the start of the year, the macro picture not really changing, rising Covid cases globally, strong earnings and other supportive factors largely priced in and the extent to which investors are ‘all in’ equities, we could be set for a downward move in equities over the coming weeks,” said Wilson.
The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were under pressure on Friday, with some pointing to tax-hike worries, but also as steam continues to come out of that market following
direct listing more than a week ago. Bitcoin was trading at $48,481 and below the psychologically important level of $50,000 for the first time since early March.
Shares of
(ticker: COIN) were down 2.5%.
Shares of Snapchat parent
climbed 7.8% after the social-networking group reported better-than-forecast results for the March quarter.
Shares of
were down 5.9%, as the U.S. chip maker reported forecast-beating earnings, as the company sold more chips for personal computers, but revenue for its key data center fell.
(MAT) shares jumped 8.8%, after the toy maker posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and a surge in sales of nearly 50%.
(SKX) shares were rising 17% after the company posted earnings per share of 63 cents, beating expectations of 49 cents on revenue of $1.43 billion, which beat estimates of $1.35 billion.
(SAM) saw its stock rise 3.9% after it said it earned $5.26, higher than the estimated $2.61. The company said net revenue was $545 million, beating expectations of $477 million.
Electronic Arts (EA) shares rose 0.9% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold.
(HOG) shares fell 1.7% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Under Weight from Equal Weight.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
