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 Stocks finish at record highs Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average index closing above 35,000 for the first time, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also at new highs, as investors cheer corporate earnings reports and brush off worries about the delta variant of the coronavirus slowing the economic recovery.
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Stocks finish at record highs Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average index closing above 35,000 for the first time, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also at new highs, as investors cheer corporate earnings reports and brush off worries about the delta variant of the coronavirus slowing the economic recovery.
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 Shares of Domino's Pizza Inc. pulled back 3.2% in afternoon trading Friday, after analyst John Ivankoe at J.P. Morgan backed away from his long-time bullish stance on the pizza seller. "Price just too high, believe now is time to step away from shares," Ivankoe wrote, as he downgraded the stock to neutral after being at overweight since March 2019. The downgrade comes a day after the stock shot up 14.6% close at a record $538.82 on Thursday, after Domino's beat profit and revenue expectations, and announced a new $1 billion stock repurchase program. Still, Ivankoe raised his price target on the stock to $530, which is now 1.6% above current prices, from $425. He said current valuations are at the higher end of the typical multiple range for Domino's stock. "[A]t this point, we don't believe a sustained higher multiple or higher earnings relative to our optimistic assumptions warrants a risk of further upside in the stock beyond current levels," Ivankoe wrote. The stock has rallied 36.0% year to date, while the SPDR Consumer Discretionary Select Sector ETF has gained 14.0% and the S&P 500 has advanced 17.4%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Oil futures edged higher on Friday, with prices shaking off a steep loss on Monday to end the week with a gain. Oil prices had plunged in the early part of the week on "concerns that rising global delta variant infection rates could undermine the economic rebound," or slow it down, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. These worries haven't gone away, but even with the new OPEC agreement to raise output, there are still "residual concerns" that the market "could see supply struggle to keep up with demand, hence the recovery in prices heading into the weekend," he said. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery tacked on 16 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $72.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices based on the front-month contract prices rose 0.7%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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PropertyGuru Pte. Ltd. announced an agreement that will take the Southeast Asia property technology company public, through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Bridgetown 2 Holdings Ltd. that will value the combined company at $1.35 billion. Bridgetown 2's stock rose 1.0% in afternoon trading. The deal is expected to provide $431 million of gross proceeds. After the deal closes, which is expected to occur by the end of July 2021 to mid-August 2021, the combined company will be listed on the NYSE. Bridgetown 2 was formed by Pacific Century Group and Thiel Capital LLC. "This process of becoming a public company will provide us with greater financial resources to do what we do best - helping people find, finance and own their homes in an efficient and transparent manner," said PropertyGuru Chief Executive Hari Krishnan. Bridgetown 2's stock, which started trading on Jan. 26, has slipped 1.3% over the past three months while the Renaissance IPO ETF has eased 1.7% and the S&P 500 has gained 5.5%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 Jeff Reeves says these 5 e-commerce stocks are better plays than 'tired' Amazon
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