What’s News in Markets: Clarity Act, Chips’ Dip, Klarna’s Pivot

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Jack Pitcher (0:09)

Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, May 16th. I'm Jack Pitcher for The Wall Street Journal. And this is What's News and Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week, and the news that drove them. Let's get to it.

What started out as a strong week, finished on a bit of a down note. Rising bond yields around the world are sapping investors' appetite for stocks. And oil prices are still climbing, reigniting fears about inflation. All three major indexes fell more than 1% Friday. For the week, the Dow dropped 0.2%, the S&P inched 0.1% higher, and the Nasdaq dropped a tenth of a percent.

It was a hectic week for chip stocks, like Intel, Nvidia, Micron, and Qualcomm. To give you a sense of the drama, here are some actual quotes from our coverage throughout the week.

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On Monday, enthusiasm for artificial intelligence continued to drive the market.

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On Tuesday, a reversal for the semiconductor sector brought the market to a standstill.

Jack Pitcher (1:17)

On Wednesday, chip makers bounced back from yesterday's tumble. You get the idea.

So what gives? My colleague Heather Gillers called it a post-earnings hangover. She wrote that the dip was at least in part a natural breather for semiconductors and other AI-related stocks. And those companies have been tearing up the charts. After Tuesday's declines, Intel, Qualcomm, and Micron were still up more than 60% over the previous month. When all was said and done, the iShare Semiconductor ETF, a benchmark for the US chip industry, closed out the week down 2.25%.

This week also brought some long-awaited news for crypto enthusiasts. A bill called the Clarity Act would create a pathway for crypto to further upend traditional finance. It's important for crypto companies who want, you guessed it, clarity about the rules of the road for cryptocurrencies across US regulatory bodies. But the bill was stuck in the Senate Banking Committee for months. A big issue was whether crypto exchanges like Coinbase and other firms could offer so-called rewards that pay recurring fees to the holders of popular tokens. Banks argued against what they call loopholes, saying they would threaten their deposits. On Thursday, the committee finally approved a version of the bill. And in the end, neither side got everything it wanted. Banks won some concessions, and shares of the stablecoin issuer Circle Internet fell 2%.

Meanwhile, shares of Coinbase and Robinhood jumped more than 5%.

But, as is so often the case in crypto, the high didn't last. At the end of the week, shares of Robinhood were flat, and Coinbase was down 3%.

If you know the Swedish company Klarna for one thing, it's probably buy now pay later. But that might not be the case for too much longer. Klarna is shifting its focus more towards something called fair financing. That's a longer-term type of installment loan designed for big ticket items. And this week, the company said that pivot is working. The new offering has taken off faster than expected, with gross merchandise volumes more than doubling from last year. The new strategy has also helped Klarna gain market share from competitors like Afterpay and Affirm in the recent quarter. After reporting earnings, shares of Klarna shot up 20% on Thursday. It was a welcome change for shareholders. Klarna's stock had lost about two-thirds of its value over the past year. The shares gave up some of Thursday's gains on Friday, but still ended the week nearly 5% higher.

And now you know What's News in Markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on wsj.com. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi, with deputy editor Chris Zinsley and supervising producer Katie Ferguson. I'm Jack Pitcher. Have a great weekend and see you next Saturday.

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