Category: Stock Market News

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday nixed a proposed rule change that would have cleared the way for the first exchange-traded fund to track the digital currency bitcoin. The SEC said the proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF wasn’t consistent with rules that required a security be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest.” In order for such a product to have met this standard, the SEC wrote in a filing, “the exchange must have surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity. And second, those markets must be regulated.” The SEC said “significant markets” for bitcoin were unregulated. Many bitcoin followers on Wall Street had viewed approval as unlikely.

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Stocks gained Friday as robust jobs data reaffirmed growing confidence in the U.S. economy but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed out the week lower, snappping their six-week winning streak. A total of 235,000 new jobs were added in February, the first full month of the Donald Trump presidency. The S&P 500 rose 7 points, or 0.3%, to close at 2,372 but fell 0.4% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 45 points, or 0.2%, to end at 20,902, sliding 0.5% on the week after four straight weeks of gains. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 22 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 5,861 for a weekly drop of 0.2%.

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended his own and other tweets sent Friday soon after the jobs report. In response to a question about breaking a rule on executive branch officials waiting for an hour after a data report, Spicer said “I don’t think that’s a market disruption.” President Donald Trump re-tweeted a Drudge Report tweet saying “great again,” and Spicer tweeted the report was “great news for American workers.” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus also commented. All three tweets were sent before an hour had elapsed. The rule was adopted in 1985 to avoid affecting “financial and commodity markets,” according to the Office of Management and Budget.

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Oil prices fell a fifth straight session Friday to tally a weekly loss of 9.1%. Concerns that growing U.S. production will offset output declines by other major producers aimed at rebalancing the market have pulled prices to their lowest settlement since late November. April West Texas Intermediate crude fell 79 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $48.49 a barrel.

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President Donald Trump is expected to nominate conservative health policy expert Dr. Scott Gottlieb to head the Food and Drug Administration, media outlets including Bloomberg, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Gottlieb, a former FDA deputy commissioner, is a partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and a fellow at the conservative-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute. Gottlieb writes widely about health care issues, and has advocated for reducing the FDA’s regulatory role in various areas, including stem cells and medical devices. A survey done by Mizuho asking 53 drug companies which candidate they preferred found that the vast majority — 72% — liked Gottlieb. Gottlieb is a former “academic affiliate” of a group that defends pharmaceutical companies’ high drug prices, ProPublica reported late last month. SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF shares have surged 6.8% over the last three months, compared with a 4.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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President Donald Trump is expected to nominate conservative health policy expert Dr. Scott Gottlieb to head the Food and Drug Administration, media outlets including Bloomberg, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Gottlieb, a former FDA deputy commissioner, is a partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and a fellow at the conservative-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute. Gottlieb writes widely about health care issues, and has advocated for reducing the FDA’s regulatory role in various areas, including stem cells and medical devices. A survey done by Mizuho asking 53 drug companies which candidate they preferred found that the vast majority — 72% — liked Gottlieb. Gottlieb is a former “academic affiliate” of a group that defends pharmaceutical companies’ high drug prices, ProPublica reported late last month. SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF shares have surged 6.8% over the last three months, compared with a 4.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of aircraft parts maker TransDigm Group Inc. fell another 4.5% Friday to lead the S&P 500 decliners, extending recent losses in a continued response to a report that the government is looking at ownership disclosures by subsidiaries. Short seller Citron Research added to the pressure with a comment piece Thursday saying the stock may be the new Valeant , referring to the troubled drug company. Citron assigned TransDigm stock a $140 price target, or about 40% below its current trading level, and said its “days of exploiting and deceiving the Federal Government are numbered”. Citron cited the report by “The Capitol Forum” that said the Defense Logistics Agency is evaluating disclosures from TransDigm subsidiaries after 12 of them provided inaccurate ownership information in a filing that is updated annually. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch. But Citron said the company may be hiding its ownership to artificially inflate gross margins while avoiding price scrutiny from the government. TransDigm shares have fallen 7% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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Viacom Inc.-owned Paramount Pictures could lose its $1 billion slate financing deal with China’s Huahua Media and Shanghai Film Group, according to a report by industry publication The Wrap. Huahua has been a financial and marketing partner for past Paramount films, such as “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” The Chinese company had agreed to be acquired by Oriental Time Media for about $158 million, but regulatory concerns reportedly caused OTM to withdraw its offer on March 9. Sources told The Wrap this would most likely prevent Huahua from funding Paramount’s film slate. That is a major blow to the studio that is in dire straits after a disappointing 2016 at the box office, coming in behind all of the Hollywood major studios in revenue for the last five years. Paramount Chief Executive Brad Gray announced in February he would step down as Viacom’s new CEO Bob Bakish laid out a plan to turn around the company that includes focusing on getting Paramount Pictures back on track. Shares of Viacom’s publicly-owned class B shares were down more than 2% in afternoon trade on Friday, but have gained nearly 14% in the trailing 12-month period. The S&P 500 index is up almost 19% during the same time frame.

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The euro and European bond yields surged on Friday after Bloomberg reported that the European Central Bank is said to have discussed whether they could raise interest rates before ending their program of monthly asset purchases. The euro was up nearly 0.8% in recent trade at $1.0671, its highest level since Feb. 17. The yield on the German 10-year note , considered the European benchmark, rose five basis points to 0.479%, its highest level since Feb. 1. If true, this would suggest that the central bank is seriously considering a further rollback of its expansionary monetary policy. ECB President Mario Draghi played down such concerns during a news conference on Thursday by saying that the recent improvements in euro-area growth and inflation were largely due to transient factors like rising food and energy prices, and that, though he is “more optimistic” about the outlook for the eurozone, the risks to growth remain tilted toward the downside. When asked if rates could rise before the end of QE, Draghi replied that policy makers wanted to see further evidence of a sustainable rise in growth and inflation before they remove policy accommodation.

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Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. slumped almost 3% in early trade Friday, after the company lowered its unit revenue outlook for the first quarter. Dallas-based Southwest said it now expects unit revenue to fall 2% to 3% in the three-month period. Unit revenue measures how much passengers pay per mile flown. The airline had previously guided to a reading of flat to down 1%. Southwest said heavy rainfall in California hurt traffic, while it experienced “unexpected softness” in the second half of February. The company flew 8.7 billion revenue passenger miles in February, up 1.1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, JetBlue Airways Corp. said it expects unit revenue to fall 4% to 5% in the first quarter, hurt by the shift in the timing of the Easter holiday to April from March. Southwest shares have gained 29% in the last 12 months, and JetBlue shares have fallen 2.6%. The S&P 500 is up about 19% in the same period.

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