PRISM Market Moves on Friday: Crude Rises on Geopolitical Strain; Globe Life Recovers from Fraud Allegations; Arista, JP Morgan Chase Stumble
US equities are trading lower on Friday at midday after stocks finished mostly higher on Thursday. The S&P 500 is on track for a second-straight weekly decline, and the Nasdaq is headed for a third-straight weekly decline. Big tech is mostly lower, and other underperformers include banks, semis, airlines, healthcare tech, software, cruise lines, and casinos. Energy is outperforming, along with industrial and precious metals, hospitals, defense, P&C insurance, and utilities. Treasuries are firmer, the Dollar index is up +0.7%. Gold is up +2.0%, sitting above $2,400/oz, Bitcoin futures are down (1.8%) and WTI crude is up +2.4% on today’s geopolitical headlines.
Outperformers at midday are Globe Life ($GL) which has gained +15.3% after plummeting (53.0%) on Thursday. The company issued an aftermarket statement on Thursday, stating that a Fuzzy Panda Research report was self-serving and “wildly misleading”. The report alleged extensive insurance fraud and executives involved in bribery/kickback schemes. Coupang ($CPNG) has risen +12.0% after the company raised its Wow paid membership service to $5.74 per month, up 58%, and Progressive ($PGR) is up +2.0% on reporting Q1 EPS of $3.94 vs year-ago $0.75. Net premiums written $18.96 billion vs year-ago $16.11 billion, and net premiums earned $16.15 billion vs year-ago $13.53 billion.
The day’s decliners are Zoetis ($ZTS) which has dropped (7.6%) following a media report about unexpected deaths of pets taking arthritis medications. Zoetis has argued side effects are rare and that many vets and pet owners continue to report success with the medications. Arista Networks ($ANET) has lost (6.7%) after being downgraded to sell from buy at Rosenblatt Securities, and JPMorgan Chase ($JPM) is down (5.8%) on results. Intel ($INTC) has fallen (3.4%) on media reports earlier this year that Chinese authorities ordered several major telecom companies to replace non-Chinese chips in their networks by 2027.
