S&P 500 Gains and Losses Today: Index Falls as Trump Derides Powell’s Interest Rate Policy
Key Takeaways
Major U.S. equities indexes tumbled to start the
trading week
as President Donald Trump
stepped up his denunciations
of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and China
warned of retaliation
against countries entering trade deals that are not in China’s interest.
The S&P 500 plummeted 2.4%, the Dow slid 2.5%, and the Nasdaq closed 2.6% lower.
Universal Health Services (
UHS
) shares plunged 10.2%, the most of any S&P 500 stock, after
The Wall Street Journal
reported that Republican officials interested in cutting costs could target Medicaid-related profits generated by hospital chains. According to the report, supplemental Medicaid payment programs accounted for more than half of Universal Health Services’ pretax revenue last year.
Shares of asset management giant Blackstone (
BX
) dropped 7.8%. Although strength in private equity and credit helped the company top profit forecasts in Thursday’s quarterly earnings report, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman suggested that economic uncertainty could impinge on asset sales in the near term.
The Wall Street Journal
reported that the Department of Energy is considering significant cuts of nearly $10 billion in funding for clean energy projects. While the reduced funding could affect a variety of energy technologies, nuclear generators were one group facing pressure during Monday’s trading session. Shares of Vistra (
VST
) and Constellation Energy (
CEG
) fell 7.7% and 6.8%, respectively.
Federal
regulators consented
to Capital One Financial’s (
COF
) purchase of Discover Financial Services (
DFS
) while markets were closed on Friday. The combined entity is set to become the largest credit card company in terms of customers’ outstanding balances. Discover Financial shares added 3.6% to notch the S&P 500’s top performance on Monday, the first trading session following the approval. Capital One shares were up 1.5%.
Shares of financial technology firm Fidelity National Information Services (
FIS
) gained 2.4% after Citi upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and lifted its price target. Analysts highlighted a deal announced last week that helped Fidelity National expand its presence in the credit card processing space, suggesting potential cross-selling opportunities with clients in the banking industry.
Netflix (
NFLX
) shares advanced 1.5% following
price target boosts
by analysts at a swath of research firms. The video streaming giant
beat sales and profit estimates
in its quarterly results released Thursday afternoon. During the company’s earnings call, co-CEO Greg Peters pointed out
Netflix’s resilience
despite the challenging economic backdrop.
Read the original article on
Investopedia
