US stocks on Friday finished slightly lower in subdued trading ahead of a three-day holiday weekend. Healthcare companies and banks slipped.
US President Donald Trump signed the US Republican-backed tax bill into law, but for the fourth day in a row, stocks did not move much. They had made strong gains in recent weeks as investors became more sure the US$1.5 trillion package would pass.
High-dividend stocks made small gains even as bond yields remained near their recent highs.
The S&P 500 on Friday fell 1.23 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,683.34, rising 0.3 percent from a close of 2,675.81 on Dec. 15.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 28.23 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 24,754.06, an increase of 0.4 percent from 24,651.74 a week earlier.
The NASDAQ composite on Friday fell 5.40 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,959.96, up about 0.3 percent from a close of 6,936.58 on Dec. 15.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks on Friday dipped 4.18 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,542.93, an increase of 0.8 percent from 1,530.42 a week earlier. Those companies, which stand to benefit more than others from lower tax rates, outpaced the market this week.
Stocks were below the record highs they reached on Monday, but still finished higher for the fifth week in a row.
Markets are to be closed tomorrow in observance of Christmas, and with just four days of trading left in the year, stocks are on pace to finish every month of the year with gains when dividends are included.
Nike Inc slumped US$1.48, or 2.3 percent, to US$63.29. The company had a strong quarter overall, as its profit and sales both beat Wall Street projections, but Nike’s North American business continued to struggle.
Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note remained at 2.48 percent.
Banks took modest losses. They have done far better than the rest of the market, as the tax bill has been at the forefront of investors’ minds and interest rates have moved higher.
The S&P 1500 banking index, which tracks small, medium and large-sized banks, has soared 9 percent over the past month. The S&P 1500 is up about 3 percent over that time.
Papa John’s International Inc founder John Schnatter is to step down as the pizza chain’s CEO next month, about two months after he criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by players.
The company did not say if the move was related to those comments, for which Schnatter later apologized.
Papa John’s chief operating Officer Steve Ritchie is to become CEO on Jan. 1, while Schnatter, who appears in the chain’s commercials and on its pizza boxes, remains chairman and the company’s biggest shareholder.
Papa John’s stock shed US$2.33, or 3.9 percent, to US$56.90.
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc dropped US$2.32, or 7.3 percent, to US$29.55 after the company disclosed that chairman and CEO Vince McMahon sold 3.3 million shares to raise money for new investments in sports and entertainment, potentially including football.
McMahon helped create the XFL, which lasted a single season in 2001.
World Wrestling said that he plans to remain its chairman and CEO, and he is to remain its main shareholder.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day