What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after President Trump announced plans for a massive increase in tariffs on Chinese imports.
The sudden announcement rattled investors, breaking a months-long period of calm and sending the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq indexes tumbling. Tariffs are essentially taxes on imported goods, and the prospect of a significant increase raises investor concerns about a potential trade war. Such measures could lead to higher costs for U.S. companies that rely on Chinese components or materials, potentially hurting their profits and leading to higher prices for consumers. The move introduces significant uncertainty into the economic outlook.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Life Insurance company Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE: LNC) fell 3.9%. Is now the time to buy Lincoln Financial Group? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Life Insurance company Jackson Financial (NYSE: JXN) fell 4%. Is now the time to buy Jackson Financial? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Zooming In On Jackson Financial (JXN)
Jackson Financial’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 2 months ago when the stock gained 8.4% on the news that the company reported second-quarter financial results that featured strong growth in annuity sales and robust capital returns, which overshadowed a decline in net income.
The company's retail annuity sales climbed 4% to $4.4 billion. Jackson also returned $216 million to shareholders through a combination of stock buybacks and dividend payments. While net income fell to $168 million from $264 million a year earlier, investors appeared to focus on the company's strong capital position of over $5.3 billion. The company also announced a new quarterly cash dividend of $0.80 per share.
Jackson Financial is up 9.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $96.40 per share, it is still trading 15.2% below its 52-week high of $113.74 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Jackson Financial’s shares at the IPO in August 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $3,065.
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