In addition to rising prices, S&P 500 (Index: SPX) gained a new concern in the trading week ending on Friday, 23 April 2021 in the form of much higher capital gains tax rates.
Those prospects caused stock prices to fall sharply as the first details of the proposal were announced on Thursday, 22 April 2020. See if you can tell within 2-4 minutes of when the story broke and investors began absorbing that new information in a chart showing the index' trading value for the day:
If not for that news, the S&P 500 would almost certainly have closed the week at a new record high. As it was, the S&P 500 is trading within the lower end of the redzone forecast range on the alternative futures chart:
That's expected given the assumptions behind the redzone forecast range, which has just another couple of weeks to run.
Here's our summary of the market moving headlines for the week that was:
- Monday, 19 April 2021
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Exclusive: Fearing foreclosure crisis, U.S. watchdog cracks down on mortgage servicers
- Our factories are hungry' - U.S. farm machinery maker faces dearth of components
- Inflation fighting in emerging economies:
- ECB minions shocked to discover gambling going on in casino:
- Wall Street slips off record highs, Tesla drops after fatal crash
- Tuesday, 20 April 2021
- Fed minions starting to get nervous about rising inflation:
- Positive recovery signs in Eurozone:
- Wall Street closes lower as virus spike hits travel stocks
- Wednesday, 21 April 2021
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- COVID-19 concerns keep oil in check; stocks rebound
- Analysis: The housing boom, central banks and the inflation conundrum
- Bigger inflation developing all over:
- Wall Street rebounds after two-day decline; Netflix slides
- Thursday, 22 April 2021
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Vaccines put U.S. airlines on runway to recovery
- U.S. weekly jobless claims hit 13-month low; home sales tumble
- Republicans unveil $568 billion infrastructure package to counter Biden
- Biden to propose almost doubling capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals - Bloomberg
- Bigger inflation developing all over:
- Positive recovery signs in UK:
- UK factories expect strongest rebound since 1973 after COVID-19
- British shoppers rush back to reopened clothes stores
- ECB minions do nothing different; BOJ minions find themselves trapped in a puzzle box:
- ECB keeps policy unchanged, sees scope for rebound
- Analysis-BOJ faces communication dilemma as weak inflation leaves Kuroda with complex policy
- Wall St falls on capital tax increase angst; dollar rises
- Friday, 23 April 2021
- Daily signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Soaring lumber prices reverberate through U.S. housing market
- U.S. new home sales rebound exceeds expectations in March
- U.S. manufacturing, new homes sales underscore booming economy
- Bigger trouble developing in Japan from new COVID curbs:
- Mixed economic signals in Eurozone:
- German private sector in two-speed recovery due to coronavirus curbs - PMI
- Euro zone economic recovery accelerates in April as services bounce back -PMI
- ECB minions standing by as bigger inflation develops in Eurozone:
- From chips to drivers, euro zone firms warn supply is tight: ECB
- ECB survey sees slower growth, faster inflation this year
- Wall Street rallies on strong economic data; tech in focus
What were the positives and negatives in the past week's markets and economics news? Click through to find Barry Ritholtz' take, where the positives outweighed the negatives!