* Bitcoin hit by tax hike plans
* Amex falls as credit spending slumps
* Honeywell down on aerospace unit revenue miss
* Dow flat, S&P up 0.38%, Nasdaq up 0.66%
(Updates prices to open)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 23 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes
edged higher on Friday after a rise in factory activity in April
supported bets of swifter economic recovery, while a fall in
shares of American Express and Honeywell kept the blue-chip Dow
under check.
Data firm IHS Markit said its flash U.S. manufacturing PMI
increased to 60.6 in the first half of this month, the highest
reading since the series started in May 2007. Eight out of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors traded higher in
the first half hour of trading, with technology .SPLRCT and
energy .SPNY leading gains. Defensive utilities .SPLRCU and
consumer staples .SPLRCS were among top decliners.
Earnings on the day were lackluster, with American Express
Co AXP.N sliding 3.4% after reporting a slump in credit
spending and lower quarterly revenue. Honeywell International HON.N fell 2.7% after it missed
revenue estimates for its aerospace division, its biggest
business segment.
Wall Street's main indexes sank nearly 1% on Thursday
following reports of U.S. President Joe Biden's plans to raise
taxes on the wealthiest Americans, including the largest-ever
increase in levies on investment gains. "Yesterday was a knee-jerk reaction to the proposal. Right
now, there's nothing definitive on the part of administration,"
said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
"The focus is still on whether or not this market is in the
early stage of correction."
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI are on course for weekly declines after four
straight weeks of gains as the latest worries over tax hikes and
a resurgence in global coronavirus cases dulled sentiment.
Speedy vaccination rollouts and trillions in dollars of
economic stimulus helped the S&P 500 and the Dow clinch all-time
highs last week, with technology and other so-called growth
names lagging cheaper value stocks that are expected to
outperform as the economy re-opens after the pandemic shock.
At 09:56 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 2.43 points, or 0.01%, to 33,813.47, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 15.72 points, or 0.38 %, to 4,150.70 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 90.83 points, or 0.66 %, to 13,909.25.
With the first-quarter corporate earnings season under way,
focus will be on results from tech behemoths Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Amazon Inc AMZN.O and Facebook Inc
FB.O next week.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks, including Riot
Blockchain RIOT.O and Marathon Digital MARA.O , dropped 2%
each after bitcoin BTC=BTSP suffered hefty losses on fears
that plans to raise capital gains taxes would curb investment in
digital assets. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.9-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.6-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and no new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 36 new highs and 17 new lows.