Dow falls more than 150 points to close out a losing week; European stocks close lower as recovery concerns offset U.S. stimulus hopes; BELEX15 down 0.95%
Stocks fell on Friday to close out a tough week as traders weighed President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan along with the latest earnings from some of the biggest U.S. banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 177.26 points lower, or 0.6%, at 30,814.26. Earlier in the day, the Dow was down more than 300 points. The S&P 500 dipped 0.7% to 3,768.25, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.9% to end the day at 12,998.50.
On Friday, investors got fresh looks at major banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. JPMorgan reported better-than-expected earnings, but the stock fell more than 1%. Wells Fargo and Citigroup also declined 7.8% and 6.9%, respectively, even after posting earnings that beat analyst expectations.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department said retail sales fell 0.7% in December. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected sales to remain flat.
European markets closed in negative territory on Friday as concern over new lockdown measures, political uncertainty and a reemergence of Covid-19 cases in China, dented the positive sentiment generated by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the session down by 1% and logged a weekly loss of 0.8%. Basic resources shed 3.1% on Friday to lead losses as all sectors traded in negative territory except health care, which gained 0.7%.
Looking at individual stocks, Siemens Energy fell 6.3% to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 after General Electric filed a U.S. lawsuit alleging that one of its subsidiaries used stolen trade secrets to rig a contract bid.
BELEX15 was down almost 1%, as Belgrade Airport lost over 4%. The most active name was Fitofarmacija with RSD 3.6m in volume.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika