On a relatively slow data week, the Biden Administration made news on Thursday with a proposal to increase long-term capital gains taxes on the wealthiest Americans. The size of the increase surprised investors, causing the S&P 500 to dip 1.3% in intraday trading on Thursday, ending the day down 0.92% reversing Wednesday’s gain. Some doubt the administration’s ability to get the full increase through Congress and markets regained these losses in trading on Friday on the back of upbeat earnings expectations.
Initial jobless claims improved once more, again beating expectations coming in at 547K versus 576K the week prior and economists’ estimates of 610K.
New home sales shot up, well past estimates, with over 1 million new homes sold, which blew past the month prior’s 775K, and beat rosy estimates of an 885K gain.