By Joe Wallace and Gunjan Banerji
U.S. stocks staged a powerful rebound Friday following their
steepest selloff since October, but remained on track to record
losses for the week.
The week has been marked by sharp stock swings in both
directions, with a recent stock-market rally almost as strong as
the initial selloff as investors have parsed inflation data.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as trading wrapped up for the day,
with gains accelerating in the afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average added about 359 points, or 1.1%. The Nasdaq Composite
advanced 2.3%. The gains build on a rally that began Thursday, when
major indexes snapped a three-session losing streak.
Still, stocks ended the week with losses. The S&P 500 fell
1.4% this week, while the Dow was down around 1.1%. The tech-heavy
Nasdaq has been the hardest hit, losing 2.3% for the week.
Stocks tumbled earlier in the week after new data showed that
consumer prices leapt to a 13-year high in April. Prices on
everything from cars to hotel-room rates increased, fueled by
strong demand from consumers as Covid-19 restrictions have been
eased and supply shortages. Investors worry that a surge in prices
for raw materials will eat into profit margins and a burst of
consumer-price inflation could also prompt the Federal Reserve to
pare back easy-money policies that have buoyed stocks.
Investors fled stocks, particularly some of the fast-growing
companies that many had favored over the past year. The S&P 500
and Dow suffered their worst three-day losses in nearly seven
months to start the week.
Some sectors were harder hit. The S&P 500 growth index was
down about 2.4% this week, its fourth consecutive weekly decline
and one of the biggest since February. ARK Investment Management's
flagship innovation exchange-traded fund has fallen about 4.8% this
week, while Tesla shares have dropped 12%. Bitcoin prices tumbled
as Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company suspended
accepting bitcoin as payment for its vehicles.
The inflation fears and falling share prices triggered a surge
in bearish options activity tied to the S&P 500, with some
traders positioning for steeper declines. Bearish options changing
hands hit the highest level of the year on Wednesday, Trade Alert
data show, while a measure of stock volatility jumped this
week.
The government bond market didn't offer a hedge to investors
looking to shield themselves from the volatility of the stock
market, as investors sold Treasurys on worries about inflation. The
yield on 10-year Treasury notes recently hovered at 1.634%, up from
1.576% last week. Yields rise when bond prices fall and rising
inflation chips away at the purchasing power of the bonds' fixed
payments.
But several Fed officials have said in recent days that the
central bank has no plan to withdraw that support, helping to
quickly calm markets and triggering a rebound to end the week. The
Fed needs to see several more months of data on jobs and inflation
before determining when to begin tightening monetary policies, Gov.
Christopher Waller said Thursday.
Some investors and analysts said they were reluctant to draw
conclusions from the data released this week and remained confident
that the Fed would be patient in terms of raising interest
rates.
Buyers have rapidly stepped in to the market. U.S. stock funds
drew the most inflows since March in the week ending May 12,
according to EPFR. That made it the seventh consecutive week of
inflows to U.S. stock funds despite the turbulence, the longest
such streak since the second quarter of 2018.
"The Fed has been very consistent," said Paul Donovan, chief
economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. "That is telling you
something: it is telling you [higher inflation] clearly is
transitory."
Nonetheless, Mr. Donovan said he expects markets to remain jumpy
in response to higher inflation numbers in the coming months.
"There will be volatility in the near term over this: not just
volatility over inflation, but volatility over the central bank
response to that," he said.
Retail sales were unchanged in April from a month before, the
Commerce Department said. Economists had expected a rise of 0.8%,
following a surge in spending in March, when government stimulus
checks boosted household incomes. And fresh data released early
Friday showed that consumer sentiment weakened in May as inflation
expectations ticked up.
Despite the stock-market rebound, some investors said they
thought the market was still due for a pullback after its
tremendous run-up this year. Many individual investors have jumped
into the market, often buying on small dips in stocks. And even
after this week's declines, the S&P 500 is not far from its
record hit on May 7.
"I feel like we're overdue for a little bit of a breather.
Making money isn't supposed to be this easy. It's not supposed to
be a one way trade, " said John Porter, chief investment officer of
equities at Mellon Investments.
In corporate news, Walt Disney shares fell 2.6% after the
company said late Thursday that its flagship streaming service
added fewer users than Wall Street had expected in its fiscal
second quarter after months of torrential growth.
While the Covid-19 streaming boom is slowing for now, other
pandemic trends appear to be stickier. DoorDash gained more than
20% after saying revenue tripled in the first quarter, showing
sustained demand for food-delivery services even as coronavirus
vaccinations picked up.
Some of individual investors' favorite stocks were among the
bright spots in the market this week, continuing a string of wild
moves for meme stocks. Reddit-favorite AMC Entertainment climbed
1.6%, extending gains for the week to 36%. Hertz Global Holdings
shares have almost doubled this week as prospects brightened for
stockholders in the company, which is set to emerge from
bankruptcy.
Brent-crude futures, the benchmark in energy markets, rose for
the third consecutive week to $68.71. Copper futures in New York,
which hit a record Tuesday, slipped 0.9% to $4.66.
A recent surge in commodity prices has sharpened focus among
investors on companies that are likely to see profits pinched by
higher input costs.
"There is more pricing pressure and that will be harder on
certain companies," said Andrew Sheets, chief cross-asset
strategist at Morgan Stanley. Consumer-discretionary stocks in the
U.S. are most vulnerable, while banks and other financial firms are
relative beneficiaries because they have minimal raw-material
inputs, he added.
Stock markets around the world also notched gains. In overseas
markets, the Stoxx Europe 600 gained 1.2%. Major Asian markets
rallied. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 2.3%, China's Shanghai Composite
Index rose 1.8% and Taiwan's Taiex added 1%.
"We still think the stock market has an upside from here until
the year end," said Melda Mergen, deputy global head of equities at
Columbia Threadneedle.
Write to Joe Wallace at joe.wallace@wsj.com and Gunjan Banerji
at gunjan.banerji@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2021 16:20 ET (20:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.