Kennedy still needs confirmation from the Senate to get the job, and some analysts are sceptical about his chances. “However, if Kennedy is confirmed, it is hard to bookend risks for investors as his views are so outside the traditional Republican health policy orthodoxy,” Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins wrote in a research note. Meekins is a former deputy assistant secretary at the department known as HHS.

“Investors may need to forget everything they thought they knew about Republicans and healthcare,” Meekins said. “Kennedy’s appointment may make it less likely traditional qualified experienced (Republican) staff will agree to join HHS, creating more uncertainty.”

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Biotech stocks broadly sank to some of the market’s worst losses, but the sharpest drop in the S&P 500 came from Applied Materials. It fell 9.2 per cent even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

The provider of manufacturing equipment and services to the semiconductor industry gave a forecasted range for upcoming revenue whose midpoint was short of analysts’ expectations.

The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth, in part because their stock prices have been rising so much faster than their earnings. That’s made the broad stock market look more expensive by a range of measures, which has critics calling for at least a fade. The S&P 500 is still up 23 per cent for the year and not far from its all-time high set on Monday, despite this past week’s weakness.

Stocks had been broadly roaring since Election Day, when Trump’s victory sent a jolt through financial markets worldwide. Investors immediately began sending up stocks of banks, smaller US companies and cryptocurrencies as they laid bets on the winners coming out of Trump’s preference for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation.

But investors are also taking into account some of the potential downsides from Trump’s return to the White House.

Besides Friday’s hit to vaccine makers, Treasury yields have been climbing on both the economy’s surprising resilience and worries that Trump’s policies could spur bigger US government deficits and faster inflation.

That’s forced traders to recalibrate how much relief the Federal Reserve could provide for the economy next year through cuts to interest rates. The Fed earlier this month lowered its main interest rate for the second time this year, and past forecasts indicated Fed officials saw more cuts as likely through 2025.

Lower interest rates can act as fuel for the economy and stock market, but they can also put upward pressure on inflation.

On Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested the US central bank may be cautious about future decisions on interest rates. “The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” Powell said, though he declined to discuss how Trump’s potential policies could alter things.

Traders have since ratcheted back forecasts for whether the Fed will cut rates again at its meeting next month, though they still see better than a coin flip’s chance of it, according to data from CME Group.

On Friday, Treasury yields edged down in the bond market after swinging following several reports on the economy.

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The 10-year Treasury’s yield held at 4.44 per cent, where it was late Thursday, after swinging up and down. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.31 per cent from 4.36 per cent late Thursday.

AP

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