U.S. stocks end higher Friday, notching weekly gains of over 1%
U.S. stocks ended a volatile week higher on Friday,...
U.S. stocks ended a volatile week higher on Friday, a week that saw the Federal Reserve raise rates another 25 basis points, and risks in the U.S. and European banking sectors remain in key focus. The Dow Jones Industrial AverageDJIA rose about 132 points, or 0.4%, ending near 32,238, Friday, boosting its weekly gain to 1.2%, according to preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX climbed 0.6% Friday and 1.4% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.31% closed up 0.3% for a 1.7% weekly gain. Investors have been concerned about a potential credit crunch and its likely toll on the economy, after the failure earlier in March of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday said he expected credit conditions to tighten further, doing some of the central bank’s work for it, in terms of bringing down inflation. One worry is that high rates and tighter credit could lead to a wave of defaults.Goldman Sachs this week raised its default forecast for the U.S. high-yield, or junk-bond, market to 4% from 2.8% for 2023.
MarketWatch: The U.S. economy sped up in March, but so did inflation, S&P survey shows
The numbers: The U.S. economy accelerated in March, S&P Global surveys showed, but...
The numbers: The U.S. economy accelerated in March, S&P Global surveys showed, but so did inflation as companies raised selling prices. The S&P Global surveys are among the first indicators each month to assess the health of the economy.
The S&P Global Flash U.S. services-sector index rose to an 11-month high of 53.8 from 50.5 in the prior month. Most Americans are employed on the service side of the economy.
The S&P Global U.S. manufacturing sector index, meanwhile, increased to 49.3 from 47.3. That’s a five-month high. Any number above 50 points to expansion. Figures below that signal contraction.
Key details: New orders, a sign of future sales, rose for the first time since last September at service-oriented companies.
Beyoncé and Adidas have mutually agreed to end their creative partnership, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Ford expects to lose $3 billion on its electric vehicle business this year. It’s the first time the automaker has released financials by business unit instead of by region.
The Bank of England followed up the Fed by raising interest rates at a quarter-percentage point.
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs who oversaw a $40 billion cryptocurrency wipeout last May,...
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs who oversaw a $40 billion cryptocurrency wipeout last May, was arrested and charged with fraud by US prosecutors. An international search had been underway for months, and when authorities finally caught him and Terraform’s CFO, the scene was straight out of a movie: They were in Montenegro, attempting to fly to Dubai under fake Costa Rican traveling documents, and also had South Korean and (falsified) Belgian travel docs with them.
Bank of America says the next bubble is here. It recommends selling stocks.
Another bubble has emerged, courtesy of the bank-sector crisis which has already felled three U.S. regional...
Another bubble has emerged, courtesy of the bank-sector crisis which has already felled three U.S. regional banks. Bank of America analysts led by Michael Hartnett say money-market funds are the new hot asset.
They point out that assets under management for money funds have now exceeded $5.1 trillion, up over $300 billion over the past four weeks. They also counted the biggest weekly flows to cash since March 2020, the biggest six-week inflow to Treasurys ever, and the largest weekly outflow from investment-grade bonds since Oct. 2022.
History, according to the BofA team, says to sell the last interest rate hike.“Credit and stock markets are too greedy for rate cuts, not fearful enough of recession,” they say. After all, when banks borrow from the Fed in an emergency, they tighten lending standards, which in turn results in less lending, and that leads to less small-business optimism, which eventually cracks the labor market.