- Shares of gun maker Smith & Wesson soar after whole week of good news: Shares of Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. rallied again Friday, as better-than-expected earnings and a dividend hike followed a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down a New York gun-control provision. The Supreme Court struck down a restrictive century-old gun law enacted in New York, ruling that the state's system for issuing concealed-weapons permits - in which applicants must demonstrate "proper cause" and "good moral character" - violates the Second Amendment. Separately, the company said it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 25%, to 10 cents a share from 8 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable July 21 to shareholders of record on July 7. The gun maker’s stock soared 14.5% on Friday , after running up 9.6% on Thursday. SWBI stock is up almost 23% during the last week.
- Electric vehicle maker Polestar goes public via SPAC: Shares of Polestar made their public-market debut under the ticker “PSNY” on Friday, making it the latest electric vehicle maker to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The EV maker’s shares ended the day at $13.00, up 15.8% from the SPAC’s final closing price on Thursday. Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said the company will use the $890 million raised from the deal to fund its three-year plan to build new vehicles and eventually become profitable. About Polestar: Volvo Cars owns 48% of the company, and Polestar already has more than 55,000 vehicles on the road in China, Europe and the U.S. It has a factory up and running in China and an assembly line set to begin production later this year in a South Carolina factory shared with Volvo. By the end of 2025, CEO of the company expects that Polestar’s three-year road map will take the company to annual sales of about 290,000 vehicles.
- Banks rally after stress test: Shares in the biggest U.S. banks rallied on Friday after they passed the Federal Reserve's annual health check, but Bank of America underperformed with test results implying it needs a larger-than-expected capital buffer, which could limit share buybacks and dividends. While the broader equity market also rallied on Friday, Wells Fargo & Co, up 7.5%, was the biggest gainer among the 34 lenders that underwent the Fed's so-called stress test. "The big picture is that banks are extremely well capitalized and could manage through a downturn," David Konrad, analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW).
The S&P 500 rallied more than 3% on Friday to wrap up a big comeback week for the stock market that followed the worst weekly decline since the start of the pandemic. Investor hopes were raised Friday by economic data that included a slight improvement in inflation expectations from the latest University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment, which was seen as potentially reducing the urgency for steeper interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. After all three major indexes snapped three-week losing streaks -- with the S&P rising 6.5%, the Dow Jones average gaining 5.4% and the Nasdaq Composite surging 7.5% -- the question now is whether the markets have found a bottom or starting a bear market rally off oversold conditions.
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