Stocks fell Friday after President-elect Joe Biden announced details of a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan and major banks released their quarterly results to kick off earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 357 points lower, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 was down 1% and the Nasdaq Composite was also down 1%.
Dow Inc, Chevron, and Goldman Sachs led the 30-share average lower. Energy, finance and materials were the worst performing sectors in the S&P 500.
During the week, all three major averages fell more than 1%.
The market was expecting a significant upturn from Biden: the S&P 500 rose more than 8% in the past three months and interest rates rose.
Biden’s proposal, known as the American Rescue Plan, includes increasing federal additional unemployment benefits to $ 400 per week and extending it through September, making direct payments to many Americans of $ 1,400, and moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures of the federal government until September.
The plan also provides for $ 350 billion for state and local governments, $ 70 billion for Covid testing and vaccination programs, and a rise in the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.
“There is real pain that overwhelms the real economy – the one where people rely on paychecks, not investments, to pay for their bills, meals and their children’s needs,” Biden said during a speech in Delaware Thursday evening.
Tom Essaye, founder of The Sevens Report, said the proposal will be met “with a ‘sell the news” response as the markets have already priced in most of the prices it contains. “
“Plans for future historic stimulus, simple Fed policy and vaccines are now known, and as such, those catalysts just haven’t had the positive impact on the stocks they have over the past few months,” he added.
A third major bailout bill has been widely expected in recent weeks, particularly after the December labor report resulted in job losses for the economy and the Democrats won two major Senate races in Georgia, giving Biden’s party control of both houses of the Congress restricted.
Another spending bill, which focuses on climate change and infrastructure, among other things, is slated to be introduced in February, according to senior Biden officials.
It remains unclear whether Biden’s proposal will be welcomed in a sharply divided Congress. Though Democrats hold both houses, they must lobby moderate members of their own party like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and some Republicans to increase spending. The Democrats originally pushed for another multi-trillion package last year before agreeing on a $ 900 billion bill in December.
However, CNBC’s Jim Cramer noted that famous investor David Tepper’s outlook on stocks is still positive.
“I do not want to say that he is wildly bullish. I would say that he is very constructive,” Cramer said on Friday in “Squawk on the Street”. “He saw this coming. He knew he had to get out and now he feels like there are bags to be in, bags with very reasonable ratings.”
On Friday, investors got a fresh look at big banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. JPMorgan reported better-than-expected results, but the stock fell more than 1%. Wells Fargo and Citigroup also fell 7.3% and 4.5%, respectively, after posting earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.
The US Department of Commerce announced that retail sales were down 0.7% in December. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected unchanged sales.
Friday’s moves came after a calm day on Wall Street with the three major indices ending up in slight losses after tech stocks weakened late in the session. However, expectations of the economic agreement were also reflected in other areas, as the more economically dependent Russell rose more than 2% in 2000.
– CNBC’s Thomas Franck contributed to this report.
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