Major Wall Street indices were set to drop on Friday as incoming President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package raised fears of a tax hike, while investors analyzed quarterly reports from major U.S. lenders.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co, which had rebounded strongly from the earnings outlook, were all down even as banks posted better-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter.

JPMorgan fell 1.7% after a seven-day winning streak that pushed the title up about 12%.

“Bank stocks have been operating here for a few weeks now, so a lot of good news has already crept in,” said Dennis Dick, trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.

Major Wall Street indices are expected to end the week slightly lower after hitting record highs recently, driven by growth-sensitive cyclical stocks on bets of a heavy tax package and optimism over vaccine distribution.

Biden’s stimulus package proposal, unveiled Thursday, includes $ 415 billion to speed up vaccine delivery, some $ 1,000 billion in direct assistance to households, and about $ 440 billion for small businesses and communities in particular. affected by the pandemic.

Some investors feared that the government would need to fund spending through tax hikes.

“Biden’s concern is not the stock market, his concern is Main Street and that’s a good thing… but that tells you there’s going to be an increase in corporate taxes,” Bright’s Dick said. Trading LLC.

Meanwhile, data showed a further decline in retail sales in the United States in December – the latest sign that the economy has significantly lost momentum at the end of 2020.

As of 8:41 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 161 points, or 0.52%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 16 points, or 0.42%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 0.5 points or even flat.

Results from major U.S. banks will set the tone for the fourth quarter earnings season, and investors will focus on the outlook for U.S. businesses to validate expectations of a strong rebound in earnings and the economy in 2021.

S&P 500 company profits are expected to decline 9.5% in Q4 2020 from a year ago, but are expected to rebound in 2021, with a 16.4% gain expected in Q1, data shows IBES from Refinitiv.

Exxon Mobil Corp fell 2.7% after a report said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the oil major, following a whistleblower complaint that the company had overvalued a key asset in the prolific Permian shale oil basin.

Spotify Technology SA fell about 3.7% after Citigroup lowered its shares to “sell,” saying the music streaming platform’s investments in podcasts did not have a significant impact on sales. app downloads or premium subscriptions.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co rose 1.2% after JP Morgan moved the stock of the enterprise software maker from “neutral” to “overweight”.

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