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Business

European stocks rally at the open and bund yield turns positive on report of joint European Union spending

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European stocks enjoyed an unusually strong open on Tuesday after a weak Wall Street finish, after a report the European Union will consider jointly issuing bonds to finance energy and defense spending.

The Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
+0.60%
gained over 1% in early action, as the French CAC 40
PX1,
+1.47%
gained 2.5%, the German DAX
DAX,
+0.96%
rose 1.8% and the U.K. FTSE 100
UKX,
-0.14%
rose 0.6%.

Bloomberg News reported the EU will unveil a plan this week for the joint spending after leaders hold an emergency summit in Versailles. The report said officials are still working out how much money they intend to raise. The joint fund raising would be the second pan-EU spending plan after the NextGenerationEU package to repair the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The yield on the 10-year German bund
TMBMKDE-10Y,
0.069%
shot up 9.5 basis points to 0.08%.

U.S. stock futures responded positively to the European open, with futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
-0.07%
rising 0.4% after a 3% nosedive for the index
SPX,
-2.95%
on Monday in the wake of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying allies were considering a ban on Russian oil imports.

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Business

Stock Market Today: Dow Rose as Moderna Slumped Again

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The


Dow Jones Industrial Average
had one of its best days this year on Monday, as value and defensive stocks led a rebound from last week’s market declines.

The news Monday was relatively positive, with signs that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 might be less severe than earlier strains and reports that China is considering easing monetary policy. On the Federal Reserve policy front, the latest reporting suggested that the central bank could announce plans at its next meeting to more quickly pull back from its bond-buying program.

The Dow surged 647 points, or 1.9%, for its best one-day point gain since November 2020 and the largest percentage increase since last March. The


S&P 500
closed up 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9%, while the small-cap


Russell 2000
gained 2.1%, for its fourth-straight daily move of 2% or more.

Post-pandemic reopening stocks were among the biggest gainers on Monday. The


U.S. Global Jets
exchange-traded fund (ticker: JETS) added 5.3%, as


American Airlines Group

(AAL) added 7.9% and


United Airlines Holdings

(UAL) jumped 8.3%. Cruise lines


Carnival

(CCL) and


Royal Caribbean Cruises

(RCL) surged 8.0% and 8.3%, respectively.


Marriott International

(MAR) added 4.5%,


Live Nation Entertainment

(LYV) rose 6.1%, and


Cinemark Holdings

(CNK) gained 7.7%.

S&P 500 value stocks as a group gained 1.4% on Monday, versus a 0.9% rise for growth stocks in the index.

Investor attention remains focused on the newly discovered Omicron variant of coronavirus, news of which recently brought about the Dow’s worst day of the year and saw volatility rock markets last week. The latest headline driving sentiment comes from South Africa, where data—though from a small sample size—suggest that symptoms caused by Omicron were milder than with other variants.

Investors aren’t out of the woods yet, however. The broad market will remain sensitive to daily headlines about Omicron—both good and bad.

“It still feels like we’re in the guesswork stage of working out what the impact of Omicron will be,” said Russ Mould, an analyst at broker AJ Bell. “It would be naive to rule out further volatility as markets attempt to work out exactly what’s going on.”

On Monday, the news was positive and investors bought the market. All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in the green.

Fed policy has been pushing investor sentiment the other way. Chair Jerome Powell indicated last week that the central bank would consider speeding up its slowing, or tapering, of monthly asset purchases, which add liquidity to markets, amid higher inflation.

“We’re really at a fascinating crossroads in markets at the moment,” said Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank. “The market sentiment on the virus and the policy makers at the Fed are moving in opposite directions.”

Those trends mean different things for different kinds of stocks and indexes.

If Omicron is less severe than feared, then the economy might hold up better than expected. That would be good for economically-sensitive cyclical stocks, like many of those in the Dow. Higher bond yields and interest rates, however, can put downward pressure on stock valuations, particularly those with nosebleed price-to-earnings ratios, many of which are found in the Nasdaq.

“Like Friday, how the Nasdaq trades will likely determine the day, as markets want to see the tech sector stabilize after intense weakness late last week,” wrote the Sevens Report’s Tom Essaye. “If the Nasdaq can stabilize, the broad market can bounce.”

The tech-heavy index bounced from a loss of about 1% shortly after Monday’s opening bell.

In the commodity space, oil prices rose Monday after Saudi Arabia raised its January prices for Asian and U.S. customers over the weekend by $0.60, in a sign of firmer demand expectations.

Futures contracts for the international oil benchmark Brent rose 4.6%, to above $73 a barrel, with U.S. futures for West Texas Intermediate crude up 4.9% to about $69.50 a barrel.

“Given that OPEC+ is proceeding with its planned 400,000 barrels per day increase this month, it appears that Saudi Arabia is taking a punt that Omicron is a virus in a teacup,” said Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at broker Oanda. “Saudi Arabia’s confidence, along with the South African Omicron article over the weekend, is a boost to markets looking for good news in any corner they can find it.”

Cryptocurrency markets remained depressed after digital assets took a tumble over the weekend.


Bitcoin
and


Ether,
the two leading cryptos, remained off their lows following the stark fall Saturday, but were slipping after steadying Sunday. Bitcoin was trading hands around $49,000—down from more than $57,000 as recently as Friday—with Ether holding above $4,000.

Here are several stocks on the move Monday:


Nvidia

(ticker: NVDA) was among the most actively traded stocks in the U.S. Monday, closing down about 2.1%. Shares of fellow semiconductor firm Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) lost 3.4%.


Lucid Group

(LCID) stock dropped 5.1% after the electric-vehicle startup revealed that it had received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, without offering many details.


Kohl’s

(KSS) gained 5.4% after an activist investor said it should explore selling itself.


Moderna

(MRNA) fell 13.5% after its president said that the risk that vaccines don’t work as well against Omicron is high. Pfizer (PFE) stock slid more than 5%.

Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) stock closed up 10.4% after a management shakeup at the e-commerce giant.


Deutsche Bank

(DB) rose 3.6% after JPMorgan upgraded the bank to Overweight from Neutral, adding that the group shows positive revenue developments in key divisions.

Pharma giant


Roche

(ROG.Switzerland) rose 1.5% in Zurich after announcing that it would release rapid antigen tests for Covid-19 and flu viruses next month.

Food delivery group


Just Eat Takeaway.com

(JET.U.K.) fell 4.9% in London following a price target cut and downgrade to Market Perform from Outperform by Bernstein, which sees few positive catalysts in the pipeline for the company.

Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@dowjones.com

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Business

Stock Market Today: Dow and Oil Drop as Covid Fears Grip Europe While Tech Rises

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Current Chair Jerome Powell is viewed as likely to be renominated as leader of the Federal Reserve.


Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Technology stocks popped on Friday, while the


Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell and bond yields dipped alongside a new surge in Covid-19 cases. 

In midday trading, the Dow slid 174 points, or 0.5%, after the index slipped 60 points Thursday to close at 35,870. The


S&P 500
was rising 0.2% after the index closed at an all-time high Thursday. The technology-heavy


Nasdaq Composite
rose 0.7%.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.53% from a Thursday close of 1.61%. That’s a steep drop for one day, bringing it farther below its second half 2021 peak of 1.7%, hit in late October. 

That bodes well for the tech trade. Lower bond yields make futures profits more valuable—and fast-growing companies in the sector are expecting a large share of their profits to come many years down the line. 

Consistent with that, the S&P 500 is outperforming the Dow because of its concentration in technology. Outside of tech, stocks were having a rough day; almost 60% of S&P 500 stocks were in the red, according to FactSet.

Ultimately, market participants are rushing into safety Friday. The drop in the yield means investors are buying up the bond, sending the price higher. This comes as new Covid-19 cases perk up in Europe, prompting Austria to announce lockdowns beginning next week. 

Also not helping investors’ appetite for risk was economic data out of Germany. The countries’ producer-price index gained 3.8% month-over-month, higher than the expected 1.9% and above the previous result of 2.3%. Such strong inflation could compel the European Central Bank to hike interest rates, which could choke off economic growth, ultimately lowering inflation. ECB President Christine Lagarde said Monday morning that the central bank is currently unlikely to raise rates in 2022. Still, economic data will help guide monetary policy.  

The price of oil also dropped. WTI crude oil fell 4.2% to $75.70 a barrel. It’s down 9% from its 2021 high of more than $84 a barrel hit on Nov. 9. 

Oil stocks slid, too. The 


Energy Select Sector SPDR
Fund (XLE) fell more than 3%. It’s down just over 7% since the end of October when it hit a 2021 high. 

Overseas, Hong Kong’s


Hang Seng
Index fell 1.1%, underperforming other bourses in Asia as it was weighed down by a stark fall in


Alibaba

(ticker: BABA and 9988.H.K.) stock following the Chinese e-commerce giant’s quarterly results Thursday that showed slowing growth. The pan-European


Stoxx 600
fell 0.3%.

Here are five stocks on the move Friday:


Intuit

(INTU) stock gained 9.5% after the company reported a profit of $1.53 a share, beating estimates of 97 cents a a share, on sales of $2 billion, above expectations for $1.8 billion. 


Williams-Sonoma

(WSM) stock rose 0.6% after the company reported a profit of $3.32 a share, beating estimates of $2.56 a share, on sales of $2.1 billion, above expectations for $1.8 billion. 


Foot Locker

(FL) stock dropped 12% even after the company reported a profit of $1.93 a share, beating estimates for $1.37 a share, on sales of $2.19 billion, above expectations for $2.15 billion. 


Nvidia

(NVDA), which has been on a tear this week—up around 7% over the last five days—was rising again, climbing 4%.


Workday

(WDAY) was sliding, down 3.1% despite posting better-than-expected earnings late Thursday.

Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com

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Business

Stock Market Today: Dow Holds Near Records, the Fed Meets, Zillow Slumps

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Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference Wednesday afternoon will be closely watched.


Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The


Dow Jones Industrial Average
was slightly lower Wednesday morning after closing at a record high Tuesday as markets await the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.

In morning trading, the Dow was off 75 points, or 0.2%, after the blue-chip benchmark closed above 36,000 for the first time. The


S&P 500
fell 0.1%, while the


Nasdaq Composite
was essentially flat. All three indexes ended Tuesday at new all-time highs.

Today the spotlight is squarely on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)—the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy body. Its monthly meeting got under way Tuesday and will wrap up Wednesday with a statement from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

“Stock futures are little changed near record highs as a sense of Fed paralysis grips the markets ahead of the FOMC announcement today,” wrote Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research before the market opened. 

It’s largely expected that the central bank will announce that it will start slowing, or tapering, its Covid-19 pandemic-era program of monthly asset purchases, which add liquidity to markets. The Fed has been buying $120 billion in bonds to keep their prices high and yields low since June 2020, when it settled into a steady pattern after more fervent bond-buying near the beginning of the pandemic.

Markets now largely expect that the Fed will begin slowing these purchases, which consist of Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities, at a rate of about $15 billion a month, starting this month. If the central bank announces a faster pace, investors could react negatively, and it could put pressure on stocks.

The larger risk is that the Fed could indicate that it is considering short-term interest rate hikes sooner rather than later. With inflation running hot and economic growth slowing, an indication of a rate hike too soon could also cause a selloff in stocks.

“It is widely expected the central bank will commence tapering in November or perhaps December,” wrote Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management. “The question at hand is whether or not it will change its time line as to when it intends to increase the overnight rate.” 

As the Fed looms, not even solid economic data could move stocks higher. The ADP jobs report showed that the U.S. added 571,000 private-sector jobs in October, above the consensus forecast for 395,000. 

Also read: Is Inflation Here to Stay? The Data Are Cause for Worry. The Fed Will Have its Say Today

Overseas, Hong Kong’s


Hang Seng Index
slipped 0.3% as investors in Asia tread water ahead of the FOMC meeting. The pan-European


Stoxx 600
was up 0.1% as investors in Europe adopted a similar wait-and-see attitude.

In commodity markets, oil prices fell back amid indications that U.S. crude supply is higher than expected and pressure on the OPEC+ group of national producers to ramp up production.

U.S. futures for West Texas Intermediate crude were down 2.5% to around $81.80 after trading near $85 earlier in the week—the highest levels since late 2014.

Analysts cited data from the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday showing that U.S. crude inventories jumped by 3.6 million barrels last week—far more than the 1.5 million estimated—in a surprise to supply expectations. That puts the spotlight on official data Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Here are six stocks on the move Wednesday:


Lyft (ticker: LYFT) stock gained 11% after the company’s earnings report showed a more than 50% rise in adjusted earnings before interest, tax and non-cash expenses. Sales were $864 million, above expectations for $863 million.

Lyft’s results helped rival


Uber (UBER) stock rise 5.6% ahead of its Thursday earnings report.


Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock gained 34% after the company announced a partnership with


Kroger (KR) to sell certain products at the grocer’s locations and through online channels. Still, the Bed Bath & Beyond stock is also benefiting from its status as a “meme stock,” so the initial buying has forced short-sellers to buy shares back.

Zillow Group (ZG) stock dropped 19% after seeing several analyst downgrades after the company said it will terminate its home buying and selling business. 


Shake Shack (SHAK) stock gained 3.8% after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast.


CVS Health (CVS) stock rose 3.6% after the company reported a profit of $1.97 a share, beating estimates of $1.78 a share, on sales of $73.8 billion, above expectations for $70.5 billion.

Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com

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Business

Stock Market Today: Alibaba Gains, Novavax Drops, and the Dow Rises

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Macro concerns such as supply-chain issues appear to be on the back burner amid earnings season.


Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

The stock market was higher Wednesday, as investors weighed the prospect of strong corporate earnings against broader concerns over the economy.

In midday trading, the


Dow Jones Industrial Average
added 160 points, or 0.5%, while the


S&P 500
—which marked its fifth consecutive session of gains Tuesday—rose 0.4%. The


Nasdaq Composite
was up 0.2%.

Earnings season continued apace Wednesday, with


Abbott Laboratories

(ticker: ABT),


Verizon

(VZ),


Biogen

reporting Wednesday morning—they all beat—following


Netflix

(NFLX) and


United Airlines

(UAL) results Tuesday evening. One thing that stands out: With 16% of S&P 500 market cap having reported, results are nowhere near as good as bank earnings suggested last week, according to Credit Suisse strategist Jonathan Golub. While earnings have topped estimates by 14.1% overall, financials have topped forecasts by 21.6%, while everyone else has surpassed expectations by just 6.3%. It’s something to keep an eye on as earnings season progresses.

Wider concerns around familiar themes—such as inflation, central bank stimulus, and supply-chain disruptions—appear to have been allayed for now, as profit margins continue to hold up.

“Whilst inflation concerns are still very much bubbling under the surface of markets, risk appetite strengthened further yesterday thanks in no small part to decent earnings reports,” said Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank. “There are no signs of widespread erosion of margins at the moment. Perhaps there is so much money sloshing about that for now prices are broadly being passed on.”

Still, bond yields now sit above 1.6% after trading over 1.65% on Tuesday, and that could pressure stocks. Higher bond yields typically weigh on technology companies in particular, because they tend to discount the present value of future cash flows, and the valuations of many tech companies are grounded in profits expected years in the future.


Tesla

(TSLA) and


IBM

(IBM) are among the companies releasing financial results in the day ahead.

Meanwhile,


Bitcoin
prices touched an all-time high above $66,000. The leading cryptocurrency has been buoyed by the launch of the first exchange-traded fund tracking regulated Bitcoin futures—a landmark moment for the crypto industry. 

Trading in the ProShares


Bitcoin Strategy ETF
(BITO) began Tuesday and most of the substantial volume was driven by high-frequency traders and retail investors, according to analyst Jeffrey Halley of broker Oanda.

“Although a regulated ETF based on regulated futures does fit nicely into the mandates of many in the institutional space, I suspect they may wait a while before dipping their toes in the water,” Halley said.

Here are eight stocks on the move Wednesday:


Novavax

(NVAX) dropped 11% following a report alleging that manufacturing problems jeopardize billions of Covid-19 vaccine doses set to be delivered to low- and middle-income countries.

Verizon gained 2.6% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.

Netflix stock fell 1.2% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings after Tuesday’s close. The stock was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.


Alibaba

(BABA) stock rose 0.5% one day after gaining 6.1% on reports that it would make its own chips and that Jack Ma would be traveling to Europe.

The U.S.-listed shares of Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer


ASML

(ASML) fell 4.3% after the company outlined revenue guidance for the next quarter below Wall Street’s estimates.


Nestlé

(NESN.Switzerland) rose 3.3% in Zurich, as the food and drinks giant raised its full-year sales outlook after posting revenue ahead of analyst expectations—citing strong retail spending.


Deliveroo

(ROO.U.K.) rose 3.2% in London, as the food delivery company upgraded its full-year forecast after reporting strong order growth in the third quarter.


Kering

(KER.France) fell 4% in Paris, as the luxury-goods group, which owns brands including Gucci, saw sales growth held back in the crucial Asian-Pacific region by rising Covid-19 cases over the summer. But the company as a whole posted sales ahead of expectations.

Write to editors@barrons.com

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Business

Betting on the post-pandemic boom? Bank of America has 17 stock recommendations

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Here’s one possible all-clear signal. COVID-19 is no longer a “tail risk” for investors, the first time since February 2020, says Bank of America in its latest fund manager survey. A tail risk is an unlikely event that could cause outsize losses or gains.

Scroll down for that chart.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting begins on Tuesday, and investors will be on the lookout for any hawkish signals that could take some steam out of stocks. The premarket is showing some mixed action after some disappointment over retail sales.

But many remain stuck into the idea of a post-pandemic boom, at least in the U.S. as vaccinations roll out.

Read: Value stocks are making a comeback. Don’t get left behind, these analysts say

That has kept the records coming for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.53%
and S&P 500
SPX,
+0.65%
and those stocks geared toward a recovery. Our call of the day comes from strategists at Bank of America, who offer up 17 stocks to buy for the three R’s they see coming — recovery, reflation and rerating.

Strategists Jill Carey, Savita Subramanian and Ohsung Kwon say the economy has reached the mid-cycle phase, where inflation typically is strongest. In prior such phases, excluding the technology bubble, small-caps have outperformed larger ones, and value has beaten growth.


Uncredited

The Bank of America team says there are two reasons to like those stocks: many of the companies they highlight are still not expensive, and active funds aren’t positioning for that rising inflation, with heavier exposure to mega than smaller caps.


Uncredited


Uncredited

Onto the stocks (nearly half are small-to-midcap companies)…

Alcoa
AA,
-1.49%
— BofA has a share price target $37 for the miner. Aluminum prices could go either way, but global demand growth is a plus for Alcoa.

Axalta Coating Systems
AXTA,
-0.70%
— Share price target £37 for the global coatings group. The pace of automobile recovery will be key and a stronger dollar and lower raw material costs could be a boost.

Broadcom
AVGO,
+4.34%
— Share price target $550. Risks for the semiconductor company include sensitivity to U.S.-China trade relations and competition in networking, smartphone and other markets.

Hess
HES,
-1.40%
— Share price target $95. Among the energy company’s risks are oil and gas prices, as well as slowing developments in drilling.

Marriott International
MAR,
+2.24%
— Share price objective $150. Economic weakness and worse-than-expected spending by businesses and consumers are among the risks for the hospitality company.

Walt Disney
DIS,
-0.20%
— $223 price objective for the entertainment giant that has “best in class assets.” Downside risks include slowing ESPN growth from people deciding not to keep a cable television subscription, weaker consumer confidence, and low theme park attendance. Also watch out for potential film flops.

As for the rest, they like CNH Industrial
CNHI,
+0.59%,
Comcast
CMCSA,
+0.77%,
Emerson Electric
EMR,
-1.39%,
Herc Holdings
HRI,
+1.98%,
Knight-Swift Transportation
KNX,
-0.67%,
Occidental Petroleum
OXY,
-4.34%,
Parker Hannifin
PH,
+0.75%,
Principal Financial
PFG,
-0.45%,
Robert Half International
RHI,
-1.11%,
Union Pacific
UNP,
-0.66%
and World Fuel Services
INT,
+0.08%.

The chart

Here’s that “tail risk” chart from the latest BofA monthly fund manager survey. Bigger risks are higher-than-expected inflation and a “tantrum” in the bond market.


Uncredited

The markets

Dow and S&P futures
YM00,
-0.06%

ES00,
+0.08%
are flat, while Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00,
+0.52%
are up. European stocks are higher
SXXP,
+0.62%.
It was also an up day for Asian markets. Elsewhere, oil
CL.1,
-1.39%
and the dollar
DXY,
-0.06%
are weak and bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-2.98%
is backing further away from the $60,000 hit over the weekend.

The buzz

Retail sales dropped a bigger-than-expected 3% in February, though they surged a revised 7.6% in January. Import prices rose 1.3%. That data will be followed by industrial production and a National Association of Home Builders index. Aside from the Fed meeting kickoff, investors will also be watching the outcome of a an auction of 20-year Treasury bonds.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund firm, declares investing in bonds as “stupid” and investors should stick to a “well-diversified portfolio.”

AstraZeneca
AZN,
+0.72%

AZN,
+3.37%
shares are higher after Jefferies upgraded the drug company to buy from hold. AstraZeneca has been in the hot seat as several European countries suspend its COVID-19 shots over reports of blood clots from inoculations.

Finnish telecoms group Nokia
NOKIA,
+0.52%

NOK,
+1.90%
is cutting up to 10,000 jobs to save $716 million over two years.

A team from the U.S. government’s highway safety agency is headed to Detroit to investigate a “violent” crash after a Tesla
TSLA,
+2.05%
vehicle drove under a semitrailer, leaving two people critically injured.

Random reads

Office nostalgia — Redditers swap coworkers-from-hell stories.

When a hacker gets all your texts for $16.

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Business

A tangled market web of Tesla-bitcoin-ARK Investment could spell trouble for investors, warns strategist

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Tuesday is shaping up to be a tough one for technology stocks, after a selloff greeted investors to start the week.

The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-2.03%
— up 40% over the past 12 months — tumbled 2.5% on Monday over concerns rising bond yields could make those tech stocks look pricey. When so-called “risk-free” yields are climbing, it is that much tougher to justify equity valuations that seem lofty.

Leading techs lower in premarket is electric-car maker Tesla
TSLA,
-5.41%,
down 6% after a roughly 8% drop on Monday. Our call of the day comes from Saxo Bank’s head of equity strategy, Peter Garnry, who has been warning clients that Tesla is tangled up in a “risk cluster” that involves bitcoin and Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management firm.

Tesla announced a $1.5 billion bitcoin investment earlier this month. Along with Tesla weakness, bitcoin was down 10% early Tuesday, which some attributed to criticism from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (see below). That crypto drop will “obviously illustrate the earnings volatility that Elon Musk has delivered to Tesla,” said Garnry.

Read: Tesla bitcoin gambit already made $1 billion, more than 2020 profit from car sales, estimates analyst

Meanwhile, Tesla “is also the biggest position across all ARK Invest ETFs which added pressure to its biggest fund the ARK Disruptive Innovation Fund
ARKK,
-6.11%
losing 6% yesterday. This is exactly the risk cluster that we have been worrying about and wrote about two weeks ago,” said the strategist.

Read: Stocks aren’t in a bubble, but here’s what is, according to fund manager Cathie Wood

In the Saxo note that deep-dived into the hugely popular, actively managed fund’s holdings, Garnry highlighted ARK’s concentration in biotech names that he said could be risky if the market decides to reverse. And Tesla shares represents 6.7% of total assets under management across ARK’s five actively managed ETFs, according to the data Saxo crunched two weeks ago.

“What it means is, that a correction in equities for whatever reasons, could be higher interest rates or prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns, could set in motion selloffs across either biotechnology stocks or Tesla shares and cause performance to deteriorate which could start net outflow of AUM and then the feedback loop has started,” said Garnry, at the time.

For her part, Wood, the chief executive of ARK Invest and manager of the popular ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund, last week said she was surprised by how fast companies are adopting bitcoin, and that her “confidence in Tesla has grown.”

The markets

Stocks
DJIA,
-0.43%

SPX,
-0.78%

COMP,
-2.03%
are selling off, led by techs, with European stocks
SXXP,
-0.49%
sinking apart from some travel stocks. Asian markets had a mixed day
000300,
-0.32%.
Oil prices
CL00,
-0.19%
are rising, while the closely watched yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.360%
is trading at around 1.35%.

The chart

Treasury Secretary Yellen may have let some steam out of bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-13.19%
after repeating some concerns about the cryptocurrency in an interview with the New York Times’ Dealbook. Bitcoin was last down 13% to $48,886, taking a bunch of other cryptos down with it.

The buzz

All eyes on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who is kicking off two-day testimony on Capitol Hill. With more than 10 million Americans still jobless, “Mr. Powell will go out of his way, I am sure, to put tapering to bed and rightly so, as I dread to think what a taper-tantrum of the 2020s will look like,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, Oanda.

We’ll also get the latest home-price indexes from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, along with an update on consumer confidence.

Shares of home-improvement retailer Home Depot
HD,
-4.49%
are dropping despite upbeat results.

Shares of special-purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital
CCIV,
-31.65%,
also known as a blank-check company, are sinking. After weeks of rumors, Churchill finally announced a deal to buy electric-vehicle company Lucid Motors.

Mourning 500,000-plus American lives lost to COVID-19, President Joe Biden observed a moment of silence late on Monday and urged the public to “mask up.”

Social-media group Facebook
FB,
+0.83%
says it will restore links to news articles in Australia, five days after proposed media law changes in the country.

Random read

“I can mouth obscenities at people and they don’t have a clue.” Redditors on pandemic positives.

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

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