By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch , Andrea Riquier
Read: Opinion: The Federal Reserve’s bank stress tests put dividend payments at risk
However, financial institutions got a boost on Thursday after the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said they are planning to loosen the restrictions imposed by the Volcker rule and allow banks to more easily make large investments into venture capital and similar funds, among other rule rollbacks.
Check out: MarketWatch’s Need to Know column: Why one strategist is actually encouraged by the latest coronavirus data showing a spike in new cases
In U.S. economic data, consumer spending climbed in May to a record 8.2% after tumbling in April, as consumers used government stimulus checks to help Americans deal with job losses during the pandemic. However, personal incomes sank 4.2% last month, reflecting the mass unemployment.
“Consumer demand will probably look good in June as well, supported by the reopening in the Northeast and a still-elevated savings rate,” wrote Jefferies analysts Aneta Markowska and Thomas Simons. “However, stimulus payments are now shrinking and dragging down overall income growth,” the wrote.
In other economic reports, the final results of the consumer-sentiment survey in June slipped to 78.1 from an initial 78.9, the University of Michigan said Friday.
Which stocks were in focus?
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Nike Inc . /zigman2/quotes/203439053/composite NKE -0.93% swung to a fourth-quarter loss and total sales dropped 38% despite a jump in online sales. The quarter’s online sales rose 75% with “strong double-digit increases” across geographies and made up about a third of total revenue for the quarter. Shares were down 7.6%.
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Amazon.com Inc . /zigman2/quotes/210331248/composite AMZN +0.02% announced that it was purchasing self-driving car company Zoox for more than $1 billion, according to reports. The company’s stock fell about 2.2%.
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Shares of Gap Inc . /zigman2/quotes/206554267/composite GPS +0.45% surged about 19% after the retailer reported that it was teaming up with hip-hop star Kanye West.
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Vaxart Inc . /zigman2/quotes/202331031/composite VXRT -0.91% said Friday its oral COVID-19 vaccine has been selected to take part in a nonhuman primate challenge study funded by the U.S. government’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ program, that aims to accelerate development of a vaccine. Shares were up more than 28%.
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Microsoft Corp . /zigman2/quotes/207732364/composite MSFT +0.48% said Friday it will close all of its physical store locations, as part of the software and cloud giant’s new approach to retail. Its stock was down 2%.
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Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc . /zigman2/quotes/202993817/composite INO +3.78% lost 4% Friday, after a downgrade from Stifel Nicolaus on valuation concerns.
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Shares of media giants Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. /zigman2/quotes/203180645/composite TWTR -0.53% tumbled more than 7% after Unilever N.V. said it would join in halting advertising on the platforms until hate speech concerns were addressed.
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Albertsons Companies Inc . /zigman2/quotes/209620932/composite ACI +1.97% shares were trading lower on Friday after it priced its initial public offering.
How did other assets perform?
West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude for August delivery fell 23 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $38.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In precious metals, gold futures edged $9.70, or 0.6%, higher, to settle at $1,780.30 an ounce.
The 10-year Treasury note yield /zigman2/quotes/211347051/realtime BX:TMUBMUSD10Y +1.41% fell about 4 basis points to 0.647% amid inflows into safe-haven assets. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
The greenback was virtually unchanged against a basket of its major rivals, based on trading in the ICE U.S. Dollar Index. /zigman2/quotes/210598269/delayed DXY -0.27%
In global equities, the Stoxx Europe 600 index /zigman2/quotes/210599654/delayed XX:SXXP +0.02% fell 0.4% to close at 358.32 and London’s FTSE 100 /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX +0.11% closed up 0.2% at 6,159.30.
In Asian markets, the Japanese Nikkei /zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed JP:NIK +1.39% gained 1.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI +2.70% lost 0.9%, while South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.1%. Markets in China were closed for a holiday.
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