Wall Street ended lower after a volatile Friday, with investors reacting to a mixed jobs report by taking profits in the technology sector, which has been the engine of the market’s gains so far this year. The U.S. economy added 275,000 jobs in February, exceeding analysts’ expectations of 190,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, above expectations of 3.7%. This week, the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) down 1.2%while the Dow Jones Index (DJI) and the S&P 500 Index (SP500) down 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively. Read Seeking Alpha’s Catalyst Watch for a preview of next week’s big stories.
While the Fed’s restrictive monetary policy puts pressure on economic activity and inflation, cutting interest rates “prematurely” could cause damage. That’s according to testimony this week from Jay Powell, who reiterated before Congress that there is no evidence the economy is heading into recession. It may also be appropriate to “begin to ease policy restrictions at some point this year,” but the central bank needs to have “greater confidence that inflation is sustainably heading towards 2%.” Mott Capital Management, head of SA investment group, said the Fed chairman was largely staying off the script, although “he appeared to be keeping some distance from the dot plot of the December FOMC meeting” . (101 comments)
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly topped its November 2021 all-time high on Tuesday as excitement over spot Bitcoin ETFs and April’s halving event continued to fuel demand for the token. The top cryptocurrency’s rise to $69,200 brought its market capitalization to $1.35T, surpassing the entire U.S. high-yield bond market. However, before trading volatility sent Bitcoin higher, it was followed by a sharp reversal, likely due to profit-taking. On the same trading day, spot gold (XAUUSD:CUR) climbed to new highs, boosted by expectations of a June rate cut and a move into safe-haven assets. (133 comments)
There had been concerns about real estate lending and internal controls, but New York Community Bank (NYCB) on Wednesday raised more than $1 billion from an investment group led by the firm of former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. There has also been a shake-up of senior executives, including Alessandro DiNello, who was named chief executive last week. Dinello declared the investment “a positive endorsement of the ongoing turnaround,” adding that the bank now has a strong balance sheet and liquidity position.New York City Commercial Bank down 42% Shares resumed trading after a series of trading halts ahead of Wednesday’s news 7.5% high.Still in stock dropped by more than 60% YTD. (354 comments)
Novo Nordisk (NVO) shares hit an all-time high on Thursday after the Danish drugmaker reported promising results from an early-stage clinical trial of its experimental oral weight-loss drug. Amycretin, a long-acting co-agonist of GLP-1 and amylin, helped patients lose 13% of their weight over 12 weeks, while the company’s popular Wegovy helped patients lose about 6% weight time. Meanwhile, Novo expects Wegovy to be approved in China this year, where it has planned a limited rollout of the drug. (46 comments)
The proposal has been around for years, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finally passed new rules requiring many public companies to disclose climate-related risks in their financial statements and annual reports. Chairman Gary Gensler believes the new standards are more relevant to the risks that businesses and investors may face from the impacts of climate change, although some of the new rules focus on how businesses contribute to climate change. Controversy over the new revelations led to a narrow 3-2 vote by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and even prompted a 10-state coalition to file a legal challenge to roll back the new rules. (15 comments)
