Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

NYSE Dow Jones finished today at:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 973,65, or 4.4%, to 20,943.51, and the Nasdaq composite fell 339.52, or 4.4%, to 7,360.58.

Wall Street and markets around the world fell sharply Wednesday as the economic and physical toll caused by the coronavirus outbreak mounts — and as experts say they still can’t predict when it will end.

The S&P 500 lost 4.4% after the White House said anywhere from 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die from COVID-19, even if the country follows guidelines to avoid shopping trips, eating at restaurants and other activities through April. Florida’s governor became the latest to issue a statewide stay-at-home order.

Such restrictions have already deeply gashed the economy, and Whiting Petroleum, one of the biggest drillers in the Bakken shale formation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, with the price of oil near $20 a barrel. Automakers also reported sharp drops in U.S. sales for March, including a 43% plunge for Hyundai. Mortgage applications tumbled 24% from year-ago levels as open houses are all but shut down.

"There is a lot of uncertainty," said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors. "The negative news is really taking over."

The negative news was also global. Japanese stocks took some of the world’s heaviest losses, down 4.5%, after a survey of business sentiment there fell to its worst result in seven years. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 3.8% after big banks there scrapped dividend payments, part of a worldwide effort by companies and households alike to conserve cash.

Stocks have plunged this year as the coronavirus pandemic forces economies into what is expected to be a steep, sudden recession. The S&P 500 just closed out its worst quarter since 2008 with a 20% loss.

“The challenge for investors is you don't know how deep and how wide this downturn may be," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “It ends up being a true leap of faith that the forecast and the duration of the pandemic will be accurate.”

The ASX 200 looks set to give back its gains on Thursday after a poor night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to fall 147 points or 2.8% at the open.

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Stocks Skid as Physical, Economic Toll of Virus Worsens
Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street Wednesday as more signs piled up of the economic and physical pain being caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 1, 2020, at 4:30 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street and markets around the world fell sharply Wednesday as the economic and physical toll caused by the coronavirus outbreak mounts — and as experts say they still can’t predict when it will end.

The S&P 500 lost 4.4% after the White House said anywhere from 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die from COVID-19, even if the country follows guidelines to avoid shopping trips, eating at restaurants and other activities through April. Florida’s governor became the latest to issue a statewide stay-at-home order.

Such restrictions have already deeply gashed the economy, and Whiting Petroleum, one of the biggest drillers in the Bakken shale formation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, with the price of oil near $20 a barrel. Automakers also reported sharp drops in U.S. sales for March, including a 43% plunge for Hyundai. Mortgage applications tumbled 24% from year-ago levels as open houses are all but shut down.

"There is a lot of uncertainty," said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors. "The negative news is really taking over."

The negative news was also global. Japanese stocks took some of the world’s heaviest losses, down 4.5%, after a survey of business sentiment there fell to its worst result in seven years. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 3.8% after big banks there scrapped dividend payments, part of a worldwide effort by companies and households alike to conserve cash.

Stocks have plunged this year as the coronavirus pandemic forces economies into what is expected to be a steep, sudden recession. The S&P 500 just closed out its worst quarter since 2008 with a 20% loss.

“The challenge for investors is you don't know how deep and how wide this downturn may be," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “It ends up being a true leap of faith that the forecast and the duration of the pandemic will be accurate.”

A report on Wednesday said that private U.S. employers cut 27,000 jobs last month, which was actually much milder than economists were expecting. The survey used data from March before the number of people seeking unemployment benefits exploded to a record.

Even Friday's more comprehensive jobs report from the government may not show the full scale of the layoffs sweeping the country, according to Rhea Thomas, senior economist at Wilmington Trust. Small businesses are seeing the sharpest declines in employment, and some firms that closed may not be responding to the survey.

The government's weekly jobless claims report may offer a better view. The next batch of numbers comes Thursday, and economists say it could blow past last week's total of nearly 3.3 million initial claims, which itself was quintuple the prior record.

The number of infections keeps rising, which worsens the uncertainty. The United States has more than 206,000 cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. That leads the world, which has more than 911,000 confirmed cases.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

Stocks had cut some of their severe losses in recent weeks as Washington swooped in with aid for the economy and markets.

The S&P 500 jumped nearly 18% in just three days last week as Congress struck a deal on a $2.2 trillion rescue package for the economy and the Federal Reserve promised to buy as many Treasurys as it takes to get lending markets running smoothly.

House Democrats are already collecting ideas for a possible fourth round of aid for the economy, and Trump has tweeted his support for a $2 trillion infrastructure package. But top Republicans in Congress say they first want to see how well their just-approved programs do.

The S&P 500 fell 114.09 points to 2,470.50, and all 11 sectors that make up the index lower. Among the few gainers were Kellogg, Dollar General and other companies selling day-to-day essentials that households are stocking up on to ride out stay-at-home orders.

On the losing end was Macy's, whose drop Wednesday brought its loss for 2020 so far to nearly 74%. So much of the company's market value has vanished that S&P Dow Jones Indices is removing it from the S&P 500 index of big U.S. companies, skipping its index of mid-sized stocks and placing it into its small-stock index, effective Monday.

The market's hardest-hit areas included banks, utilities and other dividend payers.

“There are more worries now about this rippling through dividend payments and cutting back on the income investors are getting,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 973,65, or 4.4%, to 20,943.51, and the Nasdaq composite fell 339.52, or 4.4%, to 7,360.58.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 0.60% from 0.70% late Tuesday. A bond’s yield drops when its price rises, and investors buy long-term Treasurys when they’re fearful because they see U.S. government bonds as having virtually no risk of default
 

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The S&P 500 rose 56.40 to 2,526.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 469.93, or 2.2%, to 21,413.44, and the Nasdaq rose 126.73, or 1.7%, to 7,487.31.

The S&P 500 was down as much as 0.6% earlier Thursday after the U.S. government reported that more than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s double the prior week’s number, which itself was nearly five times the prior record set in 1982.

Wall Street rallied Thursday for its first gain in three days after a sudden surge in oil prices revived beaten-down energy stocks. But, as has so often been the case in this year's volatile market, it took a few U-turns to get there.

The price of crude spurted as much as 30% higher after President Donald Trump said he expects Russia and Saudi Arabia to back away from their price war, which erupted last month and helped drag U.S. oil to its lowest price in 18 years. The surge lifted energy stocks enough to pull the S&P 500 higher and outshine another dismal report showing that millions of Americans are joining the unemployment queue by the week.

But stocks and oil quickly pared much of their initial gains and then see-sawed through the day as markets weighed how seriously to take Trump’s statement, particularly after the Kremlin reportedly disputed part of his tweet, before climbing again to the close.

By the end of trading, the S&P 500 rose 2.3%, while U.S. oil was up $5.01, or 24.7%, after settling at $25.32 per barrel.

“Investors are just grasping at a positive straw here on a particular day," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Hermes. “The collapse in the energy market is creating a significant amount of additional pressure on the U.S. economy, not nearly as significant as the coronavirus, but significant nonetheless.”

The market’s focus has been on oil not just because its plunge to below $20 earlier this week from $60 at the start of the year has caused stocks in the industry to more than halve. Another worry is that heavily indebted oil companies will also be forced to default, which could cause more damage in the bond market where the total amount of debt has exploded.

The ASX 200 index looks set to be a positive end to the week. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to jump 99 points or 2% at the open.

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Wall Street Rises for First Time in Three Days as Oil Spurts
Wall Street climbed to its first gain in three days after strengthening oil prices revived beaten-down energy stocks.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 2, 2020, at 5:22 p.m.

By STAN CHOE and DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied Thursday for its first gain in three days after a sudden surge in oil prices revived beaten-down energy stocks. But, as has so often been the case in this year's volatile market, it took a few U-turns to get there.

The price of crude spurted as much as 30% higher after President Donald Trump said he expects Russia and Saudi Arabia to back away from their price war, which erupted last month and helped drag U.S. oil to its lowest price in 18 years. The surge lifted energy stocks enough to pull the S&P 500 higher and outshine another dismal report showing that millions of Americans are joining the unemployment queue by the week.

But stocks and oil quickly pared much of their initial gains and then see-sawed through the day as markets weighed how seriously to take Trump’s statement, particularly after the Kremlin reportedly disputed part of his tweet, before climbing again to the close.

By the end of trading, the S&P 500 rose 2.3%, while U.S. oil was up $5.01, or 24.7%, after settling at $25.32 per barrel.

“Investors are just grasping at a positive straw here on a particular day," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Hermes. “The collapse in the energy market is creating a significant amount of additional pressure on the U.S. economy, not nearly as significant as the coronavirus, but significant nonetheless.”

The market’s focus has been on oil not just because its plunge to below $20 earlier this week from $60 at the start of the year has caused stocks in the industry to more than halve. Another worry is that heavily indebted oil companies will also be forced to default, which could cause more damage in the bond market where the total amount of debt has exploded.

Producers have been continuing to pull oil from the ground to maintain their market share, even as demand for energy cratered because of widespread stay-at-home orders and other economy-damaging restrictions caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Trump tweeted Thursday that he hopes and expects cuts in production are coming after talking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

That helped energy stocks in the S&P 500 rally 9.1%, by far the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Schlumberger jumped 10.2%, EOG Resources rose 10.7% and Occidental Petroleum leaped 18.9%, though all three remain down between 50% and 70% for the year.

“This is a knee-jerk reaction more than anything else,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “I don’t think it changes much of the bigger picture for what we’re going through in terms of economic uncertainty and trying to wrap our minds around the extent of the weakness we’re going to see.”

The S&P 500 rose 56.40 to 2,526.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 469.93, or 2.2%, to 21,413.44, and the Nasdaq rose 126.73, or 1.7%, to 7,487.31.

The S&P 500 was down as much as 0.6% earlier Thursday after the U.S. government reported that more than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s double the prior week’s number, which itself was nearly five times the prior record set in 1982.

Roughly one of every 16 Americans in the workforce has applied for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks, and economists expect the number only to rise further. That has many investors bracing for what may be the worst recession of their lifetimes.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide has topped 1 million, led by the United States with more than 236,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

More than 51,000 have died, but over 208,000 have recovered.

Many investors expect markets to remain incredibly volatile until the number of new infections peaks, Only that can clear the uncertainty about how bad the upcoming downturn will be and how long it will last.

The S&P 500 is still down nearly 22% for 2020 so far, and investors are preparing for companies to soon begin reporting weaker profits from year-ago levels. Earnings reporting season for the first quarter kicks off in earnest in two weeks.

“The duration and impact of this virus remains unknown and volatility will remain the norm and not the exception,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

“It’s hard to envision the market moving meaningfully higher until you get some visibility of where earnings are going to go,” he said.

To help cushion the blow, Congress last week agreed on a $2.2 trillion economic aid package and the Federal Reserve promised to buy as many Treasurys as needed to keep credit markets running smoothly.

The Fed’s moves in particular have helped improve trading in markets that provide lending to governments, hospitals, companies and other vital areas of the economy, investors say.

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The stock market’s first reaction to Friday’s stunningly bad jobs report was to take it in stride. But Wall Street slid through the day as investors looked ahead to the likelihood that even worse numbers are on the way.

Stocks initially held steady after the government said U.S. employers cut 701,000 more jobs than they added last month, the first drop in nearly a decade. Many businesses have slammed to a halt amid attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, and investors were fully expecting to see such abysmal numbers.

But the market headed lower as the day progressed and, as has become typical in recent Fridays, investors looked to get out of stocks ahead of the weekend, which could be filled with even more bad news. The losses accelerated after New York’s governor announced the biggest daily jump yet for deaths caused by the coronavirus in the country’s hardest-hit state.

“It was interesting to see that the initial reaction to the jobs number wasn’t more significant,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “As that sunk in, you started to see the market start to sell off after realizing that these numbers are going to get a lot uglier.”

The S&P 500 fell 38.25 points, or 1.5%, to 2,488.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 360.91 points, or 1.7%, to 21,052.53, and the Nasdaq was down 114.23, or 1.5%, to 7,373.08. Small-company stocks fell far more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index lost 33.76 points, or 3.1%, to 1,052.05.

Potentially scary events on the calendar include Thursday’s weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits, which has been the closest thing to a real-time measure of how ferociously layoffs have swept the country. Companies will also soon begin reporting their profit results for the first three months of the year, with reporting season beginning in earnest in two weeks. Next month’s jobs report may even show the economy has wiped away the last of the 22.8 million jobs created during its nearly decade-long hiring streak.

Friday’s jobs report likely didn't fully capture the extent of the recent job losses, which have been accelerating by the day, because it collected data from before stay-at-home orders were widespread.

The S&P 500 is down 26.5% since its record set in February, reflecting the growing assumption that the economy is set to slide into a sudden, extremely sharp recession.

This past week, the S&P 500 lost 2.1%, a milder swing than the 10.3% surge and 15% drop of the prior two weeks.

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Stocks Drop as Coronavirus Crunches the Job Market, Economy
Stocks fell Friday following the latest grim reading of the coronavirus outbreak's economic toll.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 3, 2020, at 4:40 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market’s first reaction to Friday’s stunningly bad jobs report was to take it in stride. But Wall Street slid through the day as investors looked ahead to the likelihood that even worse numbers are on the way.

Stocks initially held steady after the government said U.S. employers cut 701,000 more jobs than they added last month, the first drop in nearly a decade. Many businesses have slammed to a halt amid attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, and investors were fully expecting to see such abysmal numbers.

But the market headed lower as the day progressed and, as has become typical in recent Fridays, investors looked to get out of stocks ahead of the weekend, which could be filled with even more bad news. The losses accelerated after New York’s governor announced the biggest daily jump yet for deaths caused by the coronavirus in the country’s hardest-hit state.

“It was interesting to see that the initial reaction to the jobs number wasn’t more significant,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “As that sunk in, you started to see the market start to sell off after realizing that these numbers are going to get a lot uglier.”

The S&P 500 fell 38.25 points, or 1.5%, to 2,488.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 360.91 points, or 1.7%, to 21,052.53, and the Nasdaq was down 114.23, or 1.5%, to 7,373.08. Small-company stocks fell far more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index lost 33.76 points, or 3.1%, to 1,052.05.

Potentially scary events on the calendar include Thursday’s weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits, which has been the closest thing to a real-time measure of how ferociously layoffs have swept the country. Companies will also soon begin reporting their profit results for the first three months of the year, with reporting season beginning in earnest in two weeks. Next month’s jobs report may even show the economy has wiped away the last of the 22.8 million jobs created during its nearly decade-long hiring streak.

Friday’s jobs report likely didn't fully capture the extent of the recent job losses, which have been accelerating by the day, because it collected data from before stay-at-home orders were widespread.

“There is far worse to come,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein.

Most of all, investors will be watching the number of new coronavirus cases. Only the peak in that can give some clarity on how long the economic downturn will last and how deep it will be.

“The worry is, there’s just too much uncertainty,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research for Nationwide.

The S&P 500 is down 26.5% since its record set in February, reflecting the growing assumption that the economy is set to slide into a sudden, extremely sharp recession.

The panic selling that dominated the first few weeks of the sell-off has eased a bit since Washington unleashed massive amounts of aid to help markets and the economy. The Federal Reserve has promised to buy as many Treasury securities as it takes to keep lending markets running smoothly, and Congress approved a $2.2 trillion rescue plan for the economy.

“Together, these actions are staggering and unprecedented and will go some distance toward helping to cushion the economic blow of this health crisis and help get the country to the other side,” said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock.

This past week, the S&P 500 lost 2.1%, a milder swing than the 10.3% surge and 15% drop of the prior two weeks.

The United States has more than 266,000 confirmed cases of the virus, which leads the worldwide tally of more than 1 million compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

More than 58,000 people have died, but over 225,000 have recovered.

Businesses that were just hanging on before the outbreak because of the then-strong economy may not survive. Retail chains and malls in particular are under threat, said Peter Essele, head of portfolio management for Commonwealth Financial Network.

“It’s a bit of a brush fire that we’re going to get,” he said. “The strong will survive on the other end of this.”

Markets got a bit of a lift Friday from another gain in oil prices.

Benchmark U.S. crude climbed 11.9% to $28.34 per barrel, adding on to its nearly 25% surge the prior day on expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia may dial back their price war. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose $4.17 to $34.11 a barrel.

The world is awash in oil as demand for energy collapses, and President Donald Trump said Thursday that the rivals may be close to cutting back on production to prop up oil’s price.

Whether oil-producing countries actually follow through on that adds just one more layer of uncertainty for the market.

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ASX 200 expected to rise.
Wall Street may have finished the week on a subdued note, but that doesn’t look likely to stop the S&P/ASX 200 index from pushing higher this morning. According to the latest SPI futures, the index is expected to open the week 46 points or 0.9% higher.
 
Investors grabbed hold of a few glimmers of hope Monday that the coronavirus pandemic could be slowing and sent stocks surging in a worldwide rally, capped by a 7% leap for the U.S. market.

The number of new coronavirus cases is dropping in the European hotspots of Italy and Spain. The center of the U.S. outbreak, New York, also reported its number of daily deaths has been effectively flat for two days. Even though the U.S. is still bracing for a surge of deaths due to COVID-19 and New York’s governor said restrictions should stay in place to slow its spread, the encouraging signs were enough to launch the S&P 500 to its best day in nearly two weeks.

“We’re running on raw optimism, maybe that’s the best way to put it,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Schwab Center for Financial Research.

The S&P 500′s gains accelerated throughout the day, and markets in Europe and Asia rose nearly as much. In another sign that investors are feeling a bit less pessimistic about the economy’s path, they sold bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose for the first time in four days.

Investors have been waiting anxiously for signs that the rate of new infections may hit its peak, which would give some clarity about how long the upcoming recession will last and how deep it will be. Without that, markets have been guessing about how long businesses will remain shut down, companies will lay off workers and flights remain canceled due to measures meant to slow the speed of the outbreak.

The S&P 500 climbed 175.03, or 7%, to 2,663.68, and nearly all the stocks in the index were higher. It more than recovered all its losses from the prior week, when the government reported a record number of layoffs sweeping the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 1,627.46 points, or 7.7%, to 22,679.99, and the Nasdaq rose 540.15, or 7.3%, to 7,913.24.

The latest gains are not likely to have much staying power, given how much uncertainty remains about when the pandemic will subside significantly and how much harm will have been inflicted to the economy, said Nela Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

ASX 200 expected to surge higher.
It looks set to be another very positive day of trade for the ASX after Wall Street stormed higher after new coronavirus cases appeared to slow. According to the latest SPI futures, the index is expected to jump 114 points or 2.2% at the open.

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https://apnews.com/44c94e404b1bed4aef2ed1bbdcb4274c

Wall Street leaps 7%, markets rally worldwide on virus hopes
By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors grabbed hold of a few glimmers of hope Monday that the coronavirus pandemic could be slowing and sent stocks surging in a worldwide rally, capped by a 7% leap for the U.S. market.

The number of new coronavirus cases is dropping in the European hotspots of Italy and Spain. The center of the U.S. outbreak, New York, also reported its number of daily deaths has been effectively flat for two days. Even though the U.S. is still bracing for a surge of deaths due to COVID-19 and New York’s governor said restrictions should stay in place to slow its spread, the encouraging signs were enough to launch the S&P 500 to its best day in nearly two weeks.

“We’re running on raw optimism, maybe that’s the best way to put it,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Schwab Center for Financial Research.

The S&P 500′s gains accelerated throughout the day, and markets in Europe and Asia rose nearly as much. In another sign that investors are feeling a bit less pessimistic about the economy’s path, they sold bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose for the first time in four days.

Investors have been waiting anxiously for signs that the rate of new infections may hit its peak, which would give some clarity about how long the upcoming recession will last and how deep it will be. Without that, markets have been guessing about how long businesses will remain shut down, companies will lay off workers and flights remain canceled due to measures meant to slow the speed of the outbreak.

“The virus is not everything, it’s the only thing, and nothing else really matters” to the markets, Frederick said, particularly in a week that is relatively light on economic reports.

The S&P 500 climbed 175.03, or 7%, to 2,663.68, and nearly all the stocks in the index were higher. It more than recovered all its losses from the prior week, when the government reported a record number of layoffs sweeping the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 1,627.46 points, or 7.7%, to 22,679.99, and the Nasdaq rose 540.15, or 7.3%, to 7,913.24.

The latest gains are not likely to have much staying power, given how much uncertainty remains about when the pandemic will subside significantly and how much harm will have been inflicted to the economy, said Nela Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

“It’s not unusual, if you look back historically, within bear markets to have rallies,” Richardson said. “I wouldn’t take the uptick over the last two weeks as a sign of a bottoming or a sign of upside recovery from here on out. There’s still a lot of uncertainty to get through even as we’re hopefully nearing the peak in terms of new coronavirus cases.”

The S&P 500 is still down more than 21% since its record set in February, but the losses have been slowing since Washington promised massive amounts of aid to prop up the economy.

“Since this is a public health crisis, the response has been extreme,” Morgan Stanley strategists wrote in a report. “There are literally no governors on the amount of monetary or fiscal stimulus that will be used in this fight.”

In Japan, the prime minister said he’s preparing to announce a 108 trillion yen ($1 trillion) package to bolster the world’s third-largest economy. It would be Japan’s largest-ever package for the economy and nearly twice as much as expected.

Japan’s economy was already shrinking late last year before the outbreak forced the global economy into a protective coma induced by health authorities.

The announcement pushed Japan’s Nikkei 225 index to surge 4.2%. Elsewhere in Asia, South Kora’s Kospi jumped 3.9%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.2%.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 5.8% and France’s CAC 40 jumped 4.6%. The FTSE 100 in London rose 3.1%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 0.67% from 0.58% late Friday. Yields tend to rise when investors are raising their expectations for economic growth and inflation.

Crude oil fell, giving up some of its huge gains from the prior week when expectations rose that Saudi Arabia and Russia may cut back on some of their production.

Demand for oil has plummeted due to the weakening economy, and any cutback in production would help prop up its price. A meeting between OPEC, Russia and other producers initially planned for Monday, though, was reportedly pushed back to Thursday.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.26, or 8%, to settle as $26.08 a barrel after surging nearly $7 last week. It started the year above $60 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.06, or 3.1%, to $33.05 a barrel.
 
A big rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished Tuesday, the latest twist for a market dominated by sharp swings amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% after erasing a surge of 3.5% earlier in the day. The market’s gains faded as the price of U.S. crude oil abruptly flipped from a gain to a steep loss of more than 9%.

It dampened what had been an ebullient day for markets worldwide. European and Asian markets rallied earlier, following up on Monday’s 7% surge for the S&P 500 on encouraging signs that the coronavirus pandemic may be close to leveling off in some of the hardest-hit areas of the world.

Even though economists say a punishing recession is inevitable, some investors have begun to look ahead to when economies will reopen from their medically induced coma. A peak in new infections would offer some clarity about how long the recession may last and how deep it will be.

Investors could then, finally, envision the other side of the economic shutdown, after authorities forced businesses to halt in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus. In the meantime, governments around the world are talking about pumping trillions of dollars more of aid for the economy.

Many professional investors say they’ve been wary of the recent upsurge and expect more volatility ahead. The S&P 500 has rallied nearly 19% since hitting a low on March 23, though it’s still down 21.5% from its record set in February.

The S&P 500 fell 4.27 points to 2,659.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 26.13 points, or 0.1%, to 22,653.86 after losing an earlier gain of 937 points. The Nasdaq composite dropped 25.98, or 0.3%, to 7,887.26.

ASX 200 poised to fall.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to drop lower again on Wednesday. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to fall 41 points or 0.8% at the open.

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A Stock Rally Fizzles Out on Wall Street; Oil Prices Plunge
A big rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished Tuesday in the latest twist for a market dominated by sharp swings amid the coronavirus outbreak.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 7, 2020, at 5:32 p.m.

By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — A big rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished Tuesday, the latest twist for a market dominated by sharp swings amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% after erasing a surge of 3.5% earlier in the day. The market’s gains faded as the price of U.S. crude oil abruptly flipped from a gain to a steep loss of more than 9%.

It dampened what had been an ebullient day for markets worldwide. European and Asian markets rallied earlier, following up on Monday’s 7% surge for the S&P 500 on encouraging signs that the coronavirus pandemic may be close to leveling off in some of the hardest-hit areas of the world.

Even though economists say a punishing recession is inevitable, some investors have begun to look ahead to when economies will reopen from their medically induced coma. A peak in new infections would offer some clarity about how long the recession may last and how deep it will be.

Investors could then, finally, envision the other side of the economic shutdown, after authorities forced businesses to halt in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus. In the meantime, governments around the world are talking about pumping trillions of dollars more of aid for the economy.

Many professional investors say they’ve been wary of the recent upsurge and expect more volatility ahead. The S&P 500 has rallied nearly 19% since hitting a low on March 23, though it’s still down 21.5% from its record set in February.

“It’s important to remember we shouldn’t over-extrapolate temporary trends,” said Patrick Schaffer, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Such concerns were borne out in Tuesday's trading, when the S&P 500 swung up, down, up, down and back up again through the day.

“We are still in what you would call the relief rally off of the prior low,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. He noted that this kind of a rally is common within deep bear markets, Wall Street-speak for when stocks decline 20% or more from a peak.

“There’s no guarantee that the worst is behind us, yet traders believe that at least there is some short-term money to be made,” Stovall said.

The S&P 500 fell 4.27 points to 2,659.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 26.13 points, or 0.1%, to 22,653.86 after losing an earlier gain of 937 points. The Nasdaq composite dropped 25.98, or 0.3%, to 7,887.26.

Oil prices have been even more volatile than the stock market in recent weeks as demand has dried up for energy amid a global economy weakened by the coronavirus outbreak. Russia and Saudi Arabia have also been locked in a price war, refusing to cut production sharply even as the world is awash in excess oil.

President Donald Trump said last week that he hoped and expected the two sides could agree on production cutbacks, which helped prices spurt higher temporarily. But investors still aren’t convinced about a deal, and benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $2.45, or 9.4%, to settle at $23.63 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.18 to $31.87 per barrel.

Its decline is another reminder of how many people are no longer driving to work, flying to meetings or heading to the store amid the economic shutdown. And the hangover could last for a while.

“It’s very hard today to envision baseball stadiums in June filled with people drinking beer and watching games," said J.P. Morgan Private Bank's Schaffer. "People today don’t anticipate that the economy is going to turn back on like a light switch, but rather that it will be a gradual reopening of certain parts of the economy.”

Experts say more deaths are on the way due to COVID-19, which has already claimed at least 81,000 lives around the world. The U.S. leads the world in confirmed cases with more than 386,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

More economic misery is also on the horizon. Economists expect a report on Thursday to show that 5 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs sweep the country. That would bring the total to nearly 15 million over the past three weeks. Analysts also expect big companies in upcoming weeks to report their worst quarter of profit declines in more than a decade.

But investors have grabbed onto some glimmers of optimism. China, the first country to lock down wide swaths of its economy to slow the spread of the virus, reported no new deaths over the past 24 hours. Many experts are skeptical of China’s virus figures, but investors also see signals that the number of daily infections and deaths may be close to peaking or plateauing in Spain, Italy and New York.

Central banks and governments are promising massive amounts of aid to prop up the economy.

Japan’s government on Tuesday formally announced a 108 trillion yen ($1 trillion) package for the world’s third-largest economy.

In the U.S., the White House is seeking an additional $250 billion for a program to help small businesses, which was part of the $2.2 trillion rescue package Congress approved last month.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX jumped 2.8%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 2.1%. The FTSE 100 in London added 2.2%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.8% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 2.1%.

In a signal that investors are feeling less pessimistic about the economy and inflation, they pushed the yield of the 10-year Treasury up to 0.72% from 0.67% late Monday.
 
Stocks shot to a 3.4% gain on Wall Street Wednesday as investors chose to focus on the optimistic side of data about the coronavirus outbreak’s trajectory.

It’s the latest about-face in this brutally volatile stretch for the U.S. stock market, which has flip-flopped from gains to losses for six straight days. Just a day before, stocks had been headed for a similar gain only for it to vanish in the last minutes of trading.

The market's upward swings have recently been bigger than the down moves, though, amid signs that deaths and infections may be nearing a peak or plateau in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas. That's led some investors to envision the other side of the economic shutdown that is gripping the world as authorities try to slow the spread of the virus. The S&P 500 has jumped nearly 23% in the last two and a half weeks, building on earlier gains driven by massive amounts of aid promised by governments and central banks for the economy and markets.

Many analysts say they’re skeptical of the rally given how much uncertainty still remains. The death toll continues to rise, millions of people are still losing their jobs by the week and the economic pain is worldwide. France’s central bank said its economy entered a recession with a 6% drop in the first three months of the year.

But optimism rose in the market Wednesday after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, said the White House is working on plans to eventually reopen the country. President Donald Trump later said it “will be sooner rather than later.”

“It’s positive that people are talking about reopening the economy,” said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist for LPL Financial. “The White House has been talking about that. The more we can focus on what the economy will look like several months out, the better it will be for markets.”

The S&P 500 climbed 90.57 points, or 3.4%, to 2,749.98. For some investors, its rally of more than 20% since March 23 means a new “bull market” has been born. Others, though, want to see the gains hold for six months before confirming a new bull market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 779.71 points, or 3.4%, to 23,433.57 and the Nasdaq was up 203.64, or 2.6%, to 8,090.90.

Stocks that have been beaten down the most since the sell-off began in February helped lead the way, including energy companies, retailers and travel-related companies.

ASX 200 expected to storm higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to storm higher on Thursday. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to jump 47 points or 0.9% at the open.

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Wall Street Jumps 3.4%, Actually Holds on This Time
Stocks shot to a 3.4% gain on Wall Street Wednesday as investors chose to focus on the optimistic side of data about the coronavirus outbreak’s trajectory.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 8, 2020, at 5:09 p.m.

By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks shot to a 3.4% gain on Wall Street Wednesday as investors chose to focus on the optimistic side of data about the coronavirus outbreak’s trajectory.

It’s the latest about-face in this brutally volatile stretch for the U.S. stock market, which has flip-flopped from gains to losses for six straight days. Just a day before, stocks had been headed for a similar gain only for it to vanish in the last minutes of trading.

The market's upward swings have recently been bigger than the down moves, though, amid signs that deaths and infections may be nearing a peak or plateau in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas. That's led some investors to envision the other side of the economic shutdown that is gripping the world as authorities try to slow the spread of the virus. The S&P 500 has jumped nearly 23% in the last two and a half weeks, building on earlier gains driven by massive amounts of aid promised by governments and central banks for the economy and markets.

Many analysts say they’re skeptical of the rally given how much uncertainty still remains. The death toll continues to rise, millions of people are still losing their jobs by the week and the economic pain is worldwide. France’s central bank said its economy entered a recession with a 6% drop in the first three months of the year.

But optimism rose in the market Wednesday after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, said the White House is working on plans to eventually reopen the country. President Donald Trump later said it “will be sooner rather than later.”

“It’s positive that people are talking about reopening the economy,” said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist for LPL Financial. “The White House has been talking about that. The more we can focus on what the economy will look like several months out, the better it will be for markets.”

The S&P 500 climbed 90.57 points, or 3.4%, to 2,749.98. For some investors, its rally of more than 20% since March 23 means a new “bull market” has been born. Others, though, want to see the gains hold for six months before confirming a new bull market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 779.71 points, or 3.4%, to 23,433.57 and the Nasdaq was up 203.64, or 2.6%, to 8,090.90.

Stocks that have been beaten down the most since the sell-off began in February helped lead the way, including energy companies, retailers and travel-related companies.

Gap rose 12.6%, United Airlines gained 12.4% and Diamondback Energy was up 13.5% as investors envisioned people shopping again at stores, flying for vacations and driving to the office once stay-at-home orders are relaxed. All three, though, are still down more than 50% for 2020 so far.

Shares of health insurers and other stocks got an extra boost after Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign. Investors had been wary of Sanders’ proposal of “Medicare For All” and other plans that could have restricted profits.

UnitedHealth rose 8% after being down in the morning, and Anthem jumped 10.3%.

Another bounce came in the afternoon after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its meeting last month, where it slashed short-term interest rates back to nearly zero. The minutes confirmed expectations that the Fed will do “whatever it takes” to support markets, according to Bob Miller, head of Americas fundamental fixed income at BlackRock.

Uncertainty, though, is still the dominant force in markets. The World Trade Organization said global trade could fall anywhere from 13% to 32% this year. The wide range was due to how unpredictable the pandemic is.

Companies are also preparing to report their financial results for the first three months of the year in upcoming weeks. The numbers are likely to be bleak, but investors don’t know how long that will last. McDonald’s on Wednesday pulled its forecast for restaurant growth and other measures for 2020 and the long term, citing the uncertainty created by the pandemic.

In Europe, stocks dipped after finance ministers clashed over a proposal to collectively combat the health crisis. Asian markets ended mixed.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose $1.46, or 6.2%, to settle at $25.09 a barrel, recovering some of its 9.4% slide from the prior day. Oil prices have been even more volatile than stocks recently as Russia and Saudi Arabia argue about production levels in the face of withering demand. Oil producers are set to meet on Thursday, and an announcement for production cuts to prop up the price of crude is possible.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 97 cents, or 3%, to $32.84 a barrel.

The prospect for progress in oil talks was one of the bigger drivers of Wednesday's rally, along with the signs of virus infections leveling off in several global hotspots and increased clarity in the U.S. presidential race, said Adam Taback, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

Treasury yields, which signaled worries about the economic damage coming from the coronavirus outbreak earlier than the stock market, were relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.76% from 0.73% late Tuesday.

More than 1.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed around the world, with more than 419,000 of them in the United States. More than 87,000 people have died from the virus, while over 317,000 have recovered, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

6082
 
Wall Street closed out its best week in 45 years on Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched its latest titanic effort to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak.

The central bank announced programs to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to households, local governments and businesses as the country tips into what economists say may be the worst recession in decades. It’s the latest unprecedented move by the Fed, which has rushed to ensure cash gets to parts of the economy that need it after markets got snarled by a rush of investors pulling cash out of the system.

The stock market is not the economy, and that distinction has become even more clear this week. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% Thursday, the same day the government announced 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs sweep the nation. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 12.1%, its best performance since late 1974. Markets will be closed for Good Friday.

Stock investors are continuously looking ahead to where the economy will be a few months or more in the future. From mid-February through late March, they sent stocks down by a third on expectations that a steep recession was imminent, before the economy really began to crunch.

In the last few weeks, though, investors have sent the market back up nearly 25% following promises for massive aid from the Fed, other central banks and governments around the world, even as evidence piles up that the recession fears were prescient. This week, some investors have begun to look ahead to the economy possibly reopening amid signs the outbreak may be peaking or plateauing in several of the world’s hardest hit areas.

”The market is solely focused on the number of cases,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The question is when can the restrictions be lifted? That’s what the market is focused on, when does America open up for business again?”

The S&P 500 rose 39.84 points to 2,789.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 285.80, or 1.2%, to 23,719.37, and the Nasdaq climbed 62.67, or 0.8%, to 8,153.58..

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One Month Chart
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Wall Street Caps Best Week Since 1974 on Latest Fed Stunner
Wall Street closed out its best week in 45 years on Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched its latest titanic effort to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 9, 2020, at 5:42 p.m.

By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed out its best week in 45 years on Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched its latest titanic effort to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak.

The central bank announced programs to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to households, local governments and businesses as the country tips into what economists say may be the worst recession in decades. It’s the latest unprecedented move by the Fed, which has rushed to ensure cash gets to parts of the economy that need it after markets got snarled by a rush of investors pulling cash out of the system.

The stock market is not the economy, and that distinction has become even more clear this week. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% Thursday, the same day the government announced 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs sweep the nation. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 12.1%, its best performance since late 1974. Markets will be closed for Good Friday.

Stock investors are continuously looking ahead to where the economy will be a few months or more in the future. From mid-February through late March, they sent stocks down by a third on expectations that a steep recession was imminent, before the economy really began to crunch.

In the last few weeks, though, investors have sent the market back up nearly 25% following promises for massive aid from the Fed, other central banks and governments around the world, even as evidence piles up that the recession fears were prescient. This week, some investors have begun to look ahead to the economy possibly reopening amid signs the outbreak may be peaking or plateauing in several of the world’s hardest hit areas.

”The market is solely focused on the number of cases,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The question is when can the restrictions be lifted? That’s what the market is focused on, when does America open up for business again?”

The S&P 500 rose 39.84 points to 2,789.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 285.80, or 1.2%, to 23,719.37, and the Nasdaq climbed 62.67, or 0.8%, to 8,153.58..

Many professional investors have been skeptical of the rally, saying there is still too much uncertainty. They say predictions for a relatively quick economic rebound are overly optimistic, and the head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday the global economy is set for its deepest recession since the Great Depression..

While hopes are building that a plateau may be arriving for infections in several hotspots, it’s not assured. In the meantime, businesses continue to shut down and one in 10 U.S. workers has lost their jobs in the last three weeks.

”You typically have very strong rebounds, even in a bear market,” Krosby said of markets where stocks have fallen more than 20%. “The question is whether or not we see selling into this rebound, or can we continue to build on it.”

The market’s big gains this week have been somewhat tentative. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 charged to an early 3.5% gain before it disappeared in the final minutes of trading. On Thursday, the index nearly gave up all of an early 2.5% gain, paring it down to 0.5% before climbing again in the last hour of trading.

Such volatility has become routine in markets at the end of each week recently.

“People are a little nervous to hold risk going into the weekend, especially a 72-hour weekend,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade.

The afternoon’s fade also coincided with another abrupt downdraft in the price of oil. Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $2.33, or 9.3%, to settle at $22.76 per barrel after investors learned that Russia and members of OPEC had reached a preliminary agreement to reduce production by 10 million barrels a day — far short of what would be needed to offset the steep decline in demand because of the coronavirus shutdowns, said Dave Ernsberger, global head of commodities pricing at S&P Global Platts.

“What this was is a case of spectacular disappointment,” Ernsberger said. “In the oil market today, 20 million barrels of oil demand just got blown off the face of the Earth by the coronavirus. It’s gone, and they can’t even begin to paper over that with what they agreed on today.”

Brent crude fell $1.36, or 4.1%, to $31.48 per barrel.

The Fed’s immense programs announced Thursday touch far-reaching corners of lending markets, and if they continue for the long term, they could eventually lead to market bubbles.

But in the short term, “what the Fed is doing is great and helping markets function and providing liquidity so investors can do what they need (and) want to do,” said Warren Pierson, deputy chief investment officer at Baird Advisors.

The programs even include bonds for companies that have weak enough credit ratings to be called “junk,” or speculative grade.

Worries have been high about the ballooning amount of corporate debt concentrated at the bottom edge of high-quality “investment grade.” The looming recession could push a lot of that into “junk” status, which would force many investors to sell it because they’re required to hold only investment-grade bonds. A run from such bonds could trigger sell-offs in other areas of the market and lead to even more pain across the economy.

Also in the Fed’s programs are municipal bonds, which allow cities and state governments to raise cash. On a normal day, trading in the market might see 15 buyers make a bid for a particular bond. But as recently as a few weeks ago, there were 15 sellers for every buyer, according to Gabe Diederich, portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management.

All the difficulty in selling caused prices to tumble more than they otherwise should, even for high-quality bonds. That makes it more difficult for local governments to borrow.

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Stocks fell on Wall Street Monday, erasing some of the market’s big gains from last week, as investors braced for a sobering first look at how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt company earnings.

The S&P 500 fell 1% after cutting its early losses by more than half toward the end of the day. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, its best gain since 1974.

The pullback followed news over the weekend that OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations have agreed to cut output in a bid to stem a slide in crude prices following a collapse in demand due to the outbreak.

Financial, industrial and health care stocks took some of the heaviest selling. Amazon and a few other retailers were bright spots. Traders continued to watch for more signs that the coronavirus outbreak may be leveling off and what that could mean for the prospects of reopening the economy.

Cautious optimism that the outbreak has begun to plateau in some of the worst-hit areas and another big infusion of economic support by the Federal Reserve helped spur last week’s big rally. This week, stocks could be in for more volatility as companies report results for the first quarter, though analysts will be focused primarily on what management teams have to say about what the rest of the year looks like.

Details may be hard to come by, as many companies have ceased giving earnings forecasts because of the uncertainty over when government officials will determine it's safe to roll back the social distancing and stay-at-home mandates that have all but ground the economy to a halt.

“The companies don’t know what demand is going to be over the next three months or over the next six months,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.

The S&P lost 28.19 points to 2,761.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 328.60 points, or 1.4%, to 23,390.77. The index had been down 624 points. The Nasdaq reversed an early slide and rose 38.85 points, or 0.5%, to 8,192.42. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks lost 34.68 points, or 2.8%, to 1,212.04.

European markets were closed for a holiday, and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

ASX 200 expected to open flat.

The S&P/ASX 200 index will return from the Easter break this morning and is expected to trade flat. Current SPI futures are pointing to the market remaining unchanged at the open.

New York Trading Monday

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Stocks Fall as Investors Brace for Earnings Hit From Virus
Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street as investors brace for what is sure to be widespread damage to company earnings because of the coronavirus.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 13, 2020, at 4:38 p.m.

By ALEX VEIGA and DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writers

Stocks fell on Wall Street Monday, erasing some of the market’s big gains from last week, as investors braced for a sobering first look at how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt company earnings.

The S&P 500 fell 1% after cutting its early losses by more than half toward the end of the day. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, its best gain since 1974.

The pullback followed news over the weekend that OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations have agreed to cut output in a bid to stem a slide in crude prices following a collapse in demand due to the outbreak.

Financial, industrial and health care stocks took some of the heaviest selling. Amazon and a few other retailers were bright spots. Traders continued to watch for more signs that the coronavirus outbreak may be leveling off and what that could mean for the prospects of reopening the economy.

Cautious optimism that the outbreak has begun to plateau in some of the worst-hit areas and another big infusion of economic support by the Federal Reserve helped spur last week’s big rally. This week, stocks could be in for more volatility as companies report results for the first quarter, though analysts will be focused primarily on what management teams have to say about what the rest of the year looks like.

Details may be hard to come by, as many companies have ceased giving earnings forecasts because of the uncertainty over when government officials will determine it's safe to roll back the social distancing and stay-at-home mandates that have all but ground the economy to a halt.

“The companies don’t know what demand is going to be over the next three months or over the next six months,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.

The S&P lost 28.19 points to 2,761.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 328.60 points, or 1.4%, to 23,390.77. The index had been down 624 points. The Nasdaq reversed an early slide and rose 38.85 points, or 0.5%, to 8,192.42. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks lost 34.68 points, or 2.8%, to 1,212.04.

European markets were closed for a holiday, and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury to 0.75% from 0.72% late Thursday. U.S. markets were closed last Friday for the Good Friday holiday.

Several major banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, and big companies, including UnitedHealth Group, Johnson & Johnson and Rite Aid, are on deck to report results this week.

Analysts predict that earnings for all the companies in the S&P 500 will be down 9% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That would be the biggest annual decline in earnings for the index since the third quarter of 2009 when earnings slumped nearly 16%.

“Our view is its one big write-off year,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust Advisory Services. “The market is going to start thinking more about 2021, 2022. On the other side of this, what does that business look like?”

The closure of businesses and mandates for people to stay home have forced a record number of Americans out of work and raised the possibility that many businesses could end up bankrupt. That has many investors anticipating what may be the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Investors have been focused on the trajectory of the coronavirus for clues as to how pronounced the economic fallout will be. Despite some positive signs — the death toll in New York on Sunday dipped below 700 for the first time in a week — the overall data indicate that the number of new cases continues to increase.

There are more than 1.86 million confirmed cases worldwide, led by the United States with more than 557,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Traders are trying to gauge when shutdowns in many countries might ease. Comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., have raised hopes. He has said some parts of the U.S. might be able to reopen as early as next month, while warning that much remains uncertain.

China has begun, cautiously, to reopen activity in regions such as Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province that were shut down during the worst of its outbreak.

After last week’s big move up, stocks are likely moving into a trading range reflecting a tug of war between investors’ hopes for a recovery and concerns about the extent of the damage to the economy. Quick actions by the Fed and the $2 trillion economic aid package from the government have eased some of investors’ concerns.

That optimism helped push the S&P 500 up 6.9% so far this month, though it’s still down 18.4% from the record high it reached Feb. 19.

Oil prices got a brief boost following the decision by OPEC and other oil producers over the weekend to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels a day, or a tenth of global supply, beginning May 1.

Analysts said the cuts were not enough to make up for the void in demand due to business and travel shutdowns due to the coronavirus. But the deal at least helped resolve a price war that took U.S. crude to near $20 per barrel, pummeling U.S. oil and gas producers.

U.S. benchmark crude initially jumped more than $1 but then lost ground. It fell 35 cents to settle at $22.41 a barrel. It declined $2.33, or 9.3%, to $22.76 a barrel on Thursday, before the Good Friday holiday.

Brent, the international standard, rose 26 cents to close at $31.74 a barrel on Monday.


 
Technology companies led stocks higher on Wall Street Tuesday as investors focused on how and when authorities may begin to ease business shutdowns and limits on people’s movements imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Big companies also started reporting their first-quarter earnings, giving investors an early peek into how the outbreak was affecting them. Traders will be poring over companies' quarterly report cards over the next few weeks to learn how the pandemic has changed corporate America's prospects for profit growth this year.

The S&P 500 index climbed 3.1%, erasing its losses from a day earlier. The technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 3.9%, aided by strong gains in Microsoft, Apple and several chipmakers.

The broad rally came amid new signs that government officials are considering how to gradually reopen the economy.

President Donald Trump has been discussing with senior aides how to roll back federal social distancing recommendations that expire at the end of the month. And governors around the U.S. have begun collaborating on plans to reopen their economies in what is likely to be a drawn-out, step-by-step process to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding.

The discussions follow some signs that the outbreak may be leveling off in some of the hardest-hit areas, including New York. In Italy, Spain and other places around Europe where infections and deaths have begun stabilizing, the process of reopening economies is already underway, with certain businesses and industries allowed to reopen in a calibrated effort aimed at balancing public health against their countries’ economic well-being.

“Wall Street is encouraged simply by the conversation of a reopening of the economy,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist, CFRA.

The S&P 500 rose 84.43 points to 2,846.06. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, though it remains about 16% below its all-time high set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 558.99 points, or 2.4%, to 23,949.76. The Nasdaq climbed 323.32 points to 8,515.74. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 25.29 points, or 2.1%, to 1,237.33.

Technology stocks powered much of the gains. Microsoft climbed 4.9% and Apple rose 5.1%.

ASX 200 expected to rise.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is expected to push higher again on Wednesday. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to open 11 points or 0.2% higher.

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Stocks End Higher as Traders Hope Restrictions Will Ease
Stocks rose on Wall Street Tuesday as the market turned its attention to how and when authorities will ease business shutdowns and limits on people's movements imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 14, 2020, at 5:07 p.m.

By ALEX VEIGA, STAN CHOE and DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writers

Technology companies led stocks higher on Wall Street Tuesday as investors focused on how and when authorities may begin to ease business shutdowns and limits on people’s movements imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Big companies also started reporting their first-quarter earnings, giving investors an early peek into how the outbreak was affecting them. Traders will be poring over companies' quarterly report cards over the next few weeks to learn how the pandemic has changed corporate America's prospects for profit growth this year.

The S&P 500 index climbed 3.1%, erasing its losses from a day earlier. The technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 3.9%, aided by strong gains in Microsoft, Apple and several chipmakers.

The broad rally came amid new signs that government officials are considering how to gradually reopen the economy.

President Donald Trump has been discussing with senior aides how to roll back federal social distancing recommendations that expire at the end of the month. And governors around the U.S. have begun collaborating on plans to reopen their economies in what is likely to be a drawn-out, step-by-step process to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding.

The discussions follow some signs that the outbreak may be leveling off in some of the hardest-hit areas, including New York. In Italy, Spain and other places around Europe where infections and deaths have begun stabilizing, the process of reopening economies is already underway, with certain businesses and industries allowed to reopen in a calibrated effort aimed at balancing public health against their countries’ economic well-being.

“Wall Street is encouraged simply by the conversation of a reopening of the economy,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist, CFRA.

The S&P 500 rose 84.43 points to 2,846.06. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, though it remains about 16% below its all-time high set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 558.99 points, or 2.4%, to 23,949.76. The Nasdaq climbed 323.32 points to 8,515.74. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 25.29 points, or 2.1%, to 1,237.33.

Technology stocks powered much of the gains. Microsoft climbed 4.9% and Apple rose 5.1%.

Johnson & Johnson climbed 4.5% after reporting a stronger profit for the first three months of the year than Wall Street expected. It also raised its dividend, bucking a broader trend as companies try to conserve cash, even though the health care giant also had to slash its outlook.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo fell after saying they were bracing for losses on loans as millions of Americans became unemployed. Their results missed analysts' forecasts. JPMorgan dropped 2.7% and Wells Fargo fell 1.3%.

Tentative optimism that the outbreak has begun to plateau in some areas, plus unprecedented infusions of support from the Federal Reserve and the government, have helped drive stocks higher this month. But this week stocks could be in for more volatility as companies serve up their first-quarter results.

While Wall Street expects profits will be down for most companies in the S&P 500, the focus is on what management teams have to say about what their prospects for profits look like for the rest of the year. That might prove difficult. With all the uncertainties about when economies may reopen, many companies have simply pulled their profit and sales forecasts for the year altogether.

Given how big and unprecedented the coronavirus shock to the economy has been, analysts are struggling to guess how bad corporate earnings will get hit. At Deutsche Bank, Chief Global Strategist Binky Chadha said his usual methods of forecasting earnings based on economic growth or surveys measuring business activity “are essentially broken.”

“It’s incredibly hard during normal times to have an economic forecast, but today, you’re kind of flying blind,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. “What companies have to say will be incredibly important.”

Across Wall Street, analysts are forecasting a drop of roughly 10% in earnings per share for S&P 500 companies for the first quarter and 21% for the second quarter.

It’s going to be a tough couple of quarters for corporate America as the economy will likely take “two steps forward and one step back” as it recovers, said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist for LPL Financial. “We know this is going to be one of the most severe recessions we have ever seen.”

There are more than 1.94 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, led by the United States with more than 583,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 0.75%.

Oil prices fell sharply, despite an agreement reached over the weekend by OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations to cut output starting May 1 by nearly 10 million barrels a day, or a tenth of daily global supply. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.30, or 10.3%, to settle at $20.11 a barrel. Brent, the international standard, dropped $2.14 to close at $29.60 a barrel.

European markets mostly rose after reopening following a holiday. Asian markets ended mostly higher.
 
Selling swept Wall Street Wednesday after a dismal lineup of reports made clear how historic the coronavirus crunch has been for the economy.

Markets are already bracing for what’s forecast to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but Wednesday’s data was even more dispiriting than expected, including a record drop for U.S. retail sales. Adding to the gloom: More banks made moves in anticipation that households and companies will be forced to default on billions of dollars of debt as businesses remain shut and millions of workers lose their jobs.

Stocks around the world fell, reversing Tuesday’s up trend, as markets continue to cycle between fear and budding optimism about how long and deep the recession will be.

The S&P 500 lost 62.70 points, or 2.2%, to 2,783.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 445.41 points, or 1.9%, to 23,504.35, and the Nasdaq was down 122.56, or 1.4%, at 8,393.18.

“We should take any company forecast and analyst forecast with a grain of salt here,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds “There are many analysts who are just as bewildered as companies are.”

“What you need to be here is an epidemiologist more than anything else,” he said.

Stocks will likely remain volatile as long as investors are uncertain about how long the downturn caused by the outbreak will last, and that ultimately depends on when health experts can corral the virus.

ASX 200 expected to fall.
It looks set to be a disappointing day of trade for the S&P/ASX 200 index. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to open 117 points or 2.1% lower this morning.

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Stocks Sink Following Grim Data on Economic Hit From Virus
Selling swept Wall Street after a dismal lineup of reports made clear how historic the coronavirus crunch has been for the economy.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 15, 2020, at 4:36 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, ALEX VEIGA and DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Selling swept Wall Street Wednesday after a dismal lineup of reports made clear how historic the coronavirus crunch has been for the economy.

Markets are already bracing for what’s forecast to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but Wednesday’s data was even more dispiriting than expected, including a record drop for U.S. retail sales. Adding to the gloom: More banks made moves in anticipation that households and companies will be forced to default on billions of dollars of debt as businesses remain shut and millions of workers lose their jobs.

Stocks around the world fell, reversing Tuesday’s up trend, as markets continue to cycle between fear and budding optimism about how long and deep the recession will be.

The S&P 500 lost 62.70 points, or 2.2%, to 2,783.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 445.41 points, or 1.9%, to 23,504.35, and the Nasdaq was down 122.56, or 1.4%, at 8,393.18.

“We should take any company forecast and analyst forecast with a grain of salt here,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds “There are many analysts who are just as bewildered as companies are.”

“What you need to be here is an epidemiologist more than anything else,” he said.

Stocks will likely remain volatile as long as investors are uncertain about how long the downturn caused by the outbreak will last, and that ultimately depends on when health experts can corral the virus.

Wednesday’s economic lowlight was a report showing U.S. retail sales plummeted 8.7% last month, as the engine of the U.S. economy gets locked away amid widespread stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus. Industrial production across the country also dropped in March by the largest percentage since 1946, while an April survey of manufacturers in New York state fell to its lowest reading on record. A measure of confidence among home builders hit its lowest level since 2012.

Treasury yields sank after the release of the reports, a sign of concern about future growth in the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.63% from 0.75% late Tuesday.

The retail sales data hit markets particularly hard given consumer spending makes up about two-thirds of the economy. It also raised questions about what a recovery will look like.

“How does this impact consumer behavior in an economy largely driven by consumers?” asked Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt.

Energy stocks took the sharpest losses after oil prices touched another 18-year low. Those in the S&P 500 index fell 4.7%, including a 5.5% slide for ConocoPhillips and a 4.6% drop for Exxon Mobil.

Demand for oil around the world will fall this year by a record amount amid widespread lockdowns, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. Benchmark U.S. crude touched its lowest price since 2002 before recovering slightly to $19.87 a barrel, down 24 cents from a day earlier. Brent crude, fell $1.91, or 6.5%, to $27.69 a barrel.

Financial stocks were also among the market’s biggest losers after more banks said they had to set aside billions of dollars in preparation for a coming avalanche of defaults. Bank of America fell 6.5%, and Citigroup lost 5.6%.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 lost 3.3%, the German DAX dropped 3.9% and the CAC 40 in France retreated 3.8%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.5%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 1.2%.

Investors are focusing on how and when authorities may begin to ease business shutdowns and limits on people’s movements. The S&P 500 had jumped 3.1% just a day earlier on hopes that the outbreak was leveling off in some hotspots, which could lead to parts of the economy opening back up.

That gain capped a rally that sent the S&P 500 up 27% since hitting a bottom on March 23. The upswing started following announcements of massive aid by the Federal Reserve and U.S. government to prop up the economy. The index is down about 18% from its record high set in February.

While still jarring, the yo-yo moves of recent weeks have been less severe than earlier in the sell-off, when daily moves of 8% and even more than 10% throttled markets.

”We’re past the indiscriminate selling period,” said Leo Kelly, CEO of Verdence Capital Advisors. “The market is trying to discover what that looks like on the other side.”

President Donald Trump has been discussing how to roll back federal social distancing recommendations. U.S. governors are collaborating on plans to reopen their economies in what is likely to be a gradual process to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding.

China has reopened factories, shops and other businesses after declaring victory over the outbreak, but forecasters say it will take months for industries to return to normal output, while exporters will face depressed global demand.

But if the market’s hopes for an upcoming reopening prove to be too optimistic, it likely sets stocks up for steep declines ahead.

“It’s correct now to be a little bit more hesitant," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. "Did we go a little too far, too fast?”
 
Even in this new stay-at-home, increasingly jobless economy, some businesses are making out as clear winners, and gains for Amazon, health care companies and stocks in other pockets of the market helped prop up Wall Street Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% after flipping between small gains and losses following a government report that 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The report was universally regarded as awful, and it brought the total for the last month to roughly 22 million. But markets had braced for a number that was even more awful, which helped limit losses for stocks.

The day’s move for the S&P 500 was one of its mildest since the coronavirus outbreak began knocking stocks lower two months ago. But it belied some churn underneath, as losers in the index outnumbered winners.

“We know the numbers are not going to be good, but companies can show they’ve taken steps to stop the cash drain or that they’ve positioned themselves well,” said Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ.

Amazon, Dollar General and Walmart all closed at record highs as people stock up on staples. Netflix also reached an all-time high as people spend more time than ever at home, while health care stocks in the S&P 500 rose 2.2% for the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

The losers in the coronavirus pandemic, meanwhile, took yet more hits. United Airlines sank 11.5% for the one of the worst slides in the S&P 500 after its CEO told employees that demand for travel “is essentially zero and shows no sign of improving in the near term.”

The S&P 500 rose 16.19 points to 2,799.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 33.33 points, or 0.1%, to 23,537.68, the Nasdaq jumped 139.19, or 1.7%, to 8,532.36 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks slumped 5.89, or 0.5%, to 1,178.09.

ASX 200 expected to fall.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to end the week on a low note. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is expected to open the day 0.5% or 27 points lower this morning. This is despite Wall Street rebounding overnight.

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Stocks Climb as Pandemic Winners Pull Away on Wall Street
Stocks rose on Thursday, with the heaviest lifting coming from Amazon, health care stocks and the few other pockets of the market that have managed to be winners in the coronavirus crunch.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 16, 2020, at 4:56 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Even in this new stay-at-home, increasingly jobless economy, some businesses are making out as clear winners, and gains for Amazon, health care companies and stocks in other pockets of the market helped prop up Wall Street Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% after flipping between small gains and losses following a government report that 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The report was universally regarded as awful, and it brought the total for the last month to roughly 22 million. But markets had braced for a number that was even more awful, which helped limit losses for stocks.

The day’s move for the S&P 500 was one of its mildest since the coronavirus outbreak began knocking stocks lower two months ago. But it belied some churn underneath, as losers in the index outnumbered winners.

“We know the numbers are not going to be good, but companies can show they’ve taken steps to stop the cash drain or that they’ve positioned themselves well,” said Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ.

Amazon, Dollar General and Walmart all closed at record highs as people stock up on staples. Netflix also reached an all-time high as people spend more time than ever at home, while health care stocks in the S&P 500 rose 2.2% for the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

The losers in the coronavirus pandemic, meanwhile, took yet more hits. United Airlines sank 11.5% for the one of the worst slides in the S&P 500 after its CEO told employees that demand for travel “is essentially zero and shows no sign of improving in the near term.”

As a sector, financial stocks weighed heaviest on the market with banks continuing their weeklong slide. Worries are high that business-shutdown orders — and the punishing sweep of layoffs they’re causing — will force households and businesses to default on billions of dollars of loans. JPMorgan Chase lost 3.8%, and Citigroup slid 5.5%.

Energy companies and owners of shopping malls were also hard hit as people stay at home amid efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Simon Property Group lost 13.3%, and Occidental Petroleum fell 10.4%.

Analysts see the separation of winners and losers as an encouraging sign for the market. Earlier in the sell-off, fears about the impending recession pulled the plug for stocks across sectors.

“We had a market that was dotted with indiscriminate selling,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “Now you have a differentiation within the market, which indicates a healthier backdrop.”

The S&P 500 rose 16.19 points to 2,799.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 33.33 points, or 0.1%, to 23,537.68, the Nasdaq jumped 139.19, or 1.7%, to 8,532.36 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks slumped 5.89, or 0.5%, to 1,178.09.

The market’s momentum picked up in the last minutes of trading as the White House prepared to discuss guidelines outlining a phased approach to reopening businesses, schools and other areas of life.

Treasury yields fell again and remain extremely low, though, which shows how pessimistic investors are about the economy’s prospects.

Thursday’s meandering trading offered a milder microcosm of the up-and-down lurches that stocks have been cycling through in recent weeks as traders try to guess how long and how deep the upcoming recession will be.

On one hand, investors see the severe economic damage caused by the pandemic. Besides the jobless report, data released Thursday showed that homebuilders broke ground on fewer homes than expected last month. A survey of manufacturers in the mid-Atlantic region fell below the low point during the Great Recession.

On the other hand, some optimistic investors are focusing on massive aid for the economy promised by the Federal Reserve and the U.S government. They also point to recent signs that the outbreak may be leveling off in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas, which could open the path to reopening parts of the economy.

The dueling sentiments have helped the S&P 500 nearly halve its loss since falling from its record high in mid-February. Stocks were down by nearly 34% in late March, but a recent rally has trimmed the loss to roughly 17%.

Ultimately, many professional investors say they expect the market to remain volatile until the worst of the outbreak passes.

“This is a consumer-led economy,” said Prudential’s Krosby. “The question is: At what point does the consumer feel comfortable enough to begin even a quasi-normal life outside their homes?”

In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1% and the FTSE 100 in London added 0.5%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.6%, and the Kospi in South Korea was virtually flat.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.60% from 0.64% late Wednesday. Yields fall when bond prices rise. Investors tend to bid up Treasurys when they’re worried about the economy.
 
In Wall Street’s tug of war between hope and pessimism about the coronavirus pandemic, hope is fighting back.

U.S. stocks joined a worldwide rally Friday and closed out their first back-to-back weekly gain since the market began selling off two months ago. The S&P 500 jumped 2.7% for the day, following up on even bigger gains in Europe and Asia.

Investors latched onto several strands of hope about progress in the fight against the coronavirus. They included the White House’s release of guidelines for states to reopen their economies and a very early but encouraging report on a possible treatment for COVID-19. Those events dovetailed with recent numbers that raised hopes for a leveling off of infections in some of the world’s hotspots.

The gains came even as data piles higher showing the severe economic and human toll of the outbreak. The virus has killed more than 150,000 worldwide and forced the formerly high-flying Chinese economy to shrink a crunching 6.8% last quarter. A measure of leading economic indicators in the U.S. plunged last month by the most in its 60-year history, the latest in a string of similarly unprecedented data reports.

The S&P 500 rose 75.01 points to 2,874.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 704.81, or 3%, to 24,242.49, and the Nasdaq added 117.78, or 1.4%, to 8,650.14.

“There’s no clear path yet” on when the pandemic and the economic devastation it’s caused will end, said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest.

That’s caused the stock market to cycle up, down and up again, sometimes in the same day, as it tries to set prices now for where corporate profits will be months in the future.

Optimists have been more forceful recently as they point to infections leveling off in some hard-hit areas around the world. That raises the possibility that parts of the economy could reopen — although not tomorrow — and eventually boost profits, which are currently expected to fall by roughly 25% in the second quarter, according to FactSet. Optimists are willing to look through all the economic damage in the near term, which is being mitigated somewhat by massive aid from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government.

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Hope Takes the Reins on Wall Street, Stocks Rally Worldwide
U.S. stocks joined a worldwide rally and closed out their first back-to-back weekly gain since the market began selling off two months ago.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 17, 2020, at 5:51 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — In Wall Street’s tug of war between hope and pessimism about the coronavirus pandemic, hope is fighting back.

U.S. stocks joined a worldwide rally Friday and closed out their first back-to-back weekly gain since the market began selling off two months ago. The S&P 500 jumped 2.7% for the day, following up on even bigger gains in Europe and Asia.

Investors latched onto several strands of hope about progress in the fight against the coronavirus. They included the White House’s release of guidelines for states to reopen their economies and a very early but encouraging report on a possible treatment for COVID-19. Those events dovetailed with recent numbers that raised hopes for a leveling off of infections in some of the world’s hotspots.

The gains came even as data piles higher showing the severe economic and human toll of the outbreak. The virus has killed more than 150,000 worldwide and forced the formerly high-flying Chinese economy to shrink a crunching 6.8% last quarter. A measure of leading economic indicators in the U.S. plunged last month by the most in its 60-year history, the latest in a string of similarly unprecedented data reports.

The S&P 500 rose 75.01 points to 2,874.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 704.81, or 3%, to 24,242.49, and the Nasdaq added 117.78, or 1.4%, to 8,650.14.

“There’s no clear path yet” on when the pandemic and the economic devastation it’s caused will end, said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest.

That’s caused the stock market to cycle up, down and up again, sometimes in the same day, as it tries to set prices now for where corporate profits will be months in the future.

Optimists have been more forceful recently as they point to infections leveling off in some hard-hit areas around the world. That raises the possibility that parts of the economy could reopen — although not tomorrow — and eventually boost profits, which are currently expected to fall by roughly 25% in the second quarter, according to FactSet. Optimists are willing to look through all the economic damage in the near term, which is being mitigated somewhat by massive aid from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government.

“Just having that light at the end of the tunnel is what people really want to see,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

The S&P 500 fell about 33% from it’s all-time high on Feb. 19 to March 23 as the virus moved quickly from Asia to Europe to the U.S., largely shutting down economies as it went. The market has recovered a little more than half of those losses since.

Pessimists say the recent rally for stocks has been overdone and point to the severe pain shocking the health care system and the economy. They say conditions are unlikely to get back to anything approximating “normal” soon. Even the unprecedented aid from the Fed and Congress won’t be nearly enough for households and businesses to weather a protracted downturn.

“We’re trying to bridge from the current state to the aftermath, and that bridge is just not long enough,” said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That’s the bearish case, that consumers are impacted beyond what the policy can provide because the virus extends and people really hold off on making more expenditures.”

Among the wisps of optimism that investors were focusing on Friday:

— A news report cited early progress in a drug candidate for the virus. Analysts cautioned that the encouraging data was only anecdotal, and they were hesitant to put too much stock in it. Shares of the company behind the candidate, Gilead Sciences, surged 9.7%.

— Boeing said late Thursday that it will resume production of passenger jets in Washington state next week. It suspended work late last month after workers tested positive for the coronavirus. Its 14.7% surge was a big reason for the Dow’s climb Friday.

In a sign of a bit less caution in the market, Treasury yields ticked higher but remain extremely low. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.64% from 0.61% late Thursday, though it remains well below the 1.90% level it was near at the start of the year. Bond yields drop when their prices rise, and investors tend to buy Treasurys when they’re worried about the economy.

”The government can give the mandate to reopen the economy, but it’s going to be all about how comfortable consumers feel in going back to their workplace and how comfortable they feel about going back to restaurants or doing other activities around other people,” said Ally Invest’s Bell. “The best way for us to get any insight into that is to listen to what corporations say about how they’re going to bring back their workforce. Is it going to be at a 25% rate? A 50% rate?”

Investors could hear such commentary in upcoming weeks, with hundreds of CEOs scheduled to discuss how badly their profits got hit by stay-at-home orders in the first three months of the year.

The market’s gains were widespread Friday, across all 11 sectors that comprise the S&P 500. Energy producers and banks led the way, a sharp turnaround from their laggardly ways earlier in the week when worries about the economy were at the forefront.

In European trading, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 3.4%, while Germany’s DAX climbed 3.1%. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 2.8%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.1%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.6% and South Korea’s Kospi leaped 3.1%.

India’s S&P BSE 100 rose 2.8% after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to help the stalled economy and ease financing troubles amid a nationwide lockdown to fight the pandemic.

“Human spirit is ignited by the resolve to curb the pandemic,” said Reserve Bank of India Gov. Shaktikanta Das. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus on the light.”

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ASX 200 expected to open higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to start the week in the black. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 1 point higher. This follows a positive end to the week on Wall Street. The Dow Jones climbed over 700 points or 3%, the S&P 500 rose 2.7%, and the Nasdaq index pushed 1.4% higher.
 
Oil futures plunged below zero on Monday, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, but the market’s most dramatic action by far was in oil, where the cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37.63. It was at roughly $60 at the start of the year.

Traders are still paying $20.43 for a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June, which analysts consider to be closer to the “true” price of oil. Crude to be delivered next month, meanwhile, is running up against a stark problem: traders are running out of places to keep it, with storage tanks close to full amid a collapse in demand as factories, automobiles and airplanes sit idled around the world.

Tanks at a key energy hub in Oklahoma could hit their limits within three weeks, according to Chris Midgley, head of analytics at S&P Global Platts. Because of that, traders are willing to pay others to take that oil for delivery in May off their hands, so long as they also take the burden of figuring out where to keep it.

“Almost by definition, crude oil has never fallen more than 100%, which is what happened today,” said Dave Ernsberger, global head of pricing and market insight at S&P Global Platts.

“I don’t think any of us can really believe what we saw today,” he said. “This kind of rewrites the economics of oil trading.”

Also exacerbating the volatility is that few traders are buying and selling U.S. oil to be delivered in May. They won’t even have the opportunity to do so after Tuesday, when trading contracts for it expire and the earliest delivery they’ll be able to buy is for June.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell nearly 9% to $25.57 per barrel.

The plunge in oil sent energy stocks in the S&P 500 to a 3.7% loss, the latest in a dismal 2020 that has caused their prices to nearly halve.

The S&P 500 fell 51.40 points to 2,823.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 592.05 points, or 2.4%, to 23,650.44, and the Nasdaq dropped 89.41, or 1%, to 8,560.73.

The losses ate into some of the big gains indexes have made since late March, driven lately by investors anticipating the potential reopening of businesses as infections level off in hard-hit areas. Pessimists have called the rally overdone, pointing to the severe economic pain sweeping the world and continued uncertainty about how long it will last.

ASX 200 expected to drop lower again.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to continue its slide on Tuesday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 55 points or 1% lower. This follows a very poor start to the week on Wall Street.

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Oil Price Goes Negative as Demand Collapses; Stocks Dip
Oil prices plunged below zero on Monday, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 20, 2020, at 4:33 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures plunged below zero on Monday, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, but the market’s most dramatic action by far was in oil, where the cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37.63. It was at roughly $60 at the start of the year.

Traders are still paying $20.43 for a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June, which analysts consider to be closer to the “true” price of oil. Crude to be delivered next month, meanwhile, is running up against a stark problem: traders are running out of places to keep it, with storage tanks close to full amid a collapse in demand as factories, automobiles and airplanes sit idled around the world.

Tanks at a key energy hub in Oklahoma could hit their limits within three weeks, according to Chris Midgley, head of analytics at S&P Global Platts. Because of that, traders are willing to pay others to take that oil for delivery in May off their hands, so long as they also take the burden of figuring out where to keep it.

“Almost by definition, crude oil has never fallen more than 100%, which is what happened today,” said Dave Ernsberger, global head of pricing and market insight at S&P Global Platts.

“I don’t think any of us can really believe what we saw today,” he said. “This kind of rewrites the economics of oil trading.”

Also exacerbating the volatility is that few traders are buying and selling U.S. oil to be delivered in May. They won’t even have the opportunity to do so after Tuesday, when trading contracts for it expire and the earliest delivery they’ll be able to buy is for June.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell nearly 9% to $25.57 per barrel.

The plunge in oil sent energy stocks in the S&P 500 to a 3.7% loss, the latest in a dismal 2020 that has caused their prices to nearly halve.

Halliburton lurched between gains and sharp losses, even though it reported stronger results for the first three months of 2020 than analysts expected. The oilfield engineering company said that the pandemic has created so much turmoil in the industry that it “cannot reasonably estimate” how long the hit will last. It expects a further decline in revenue and profitability for the rest of 2020, particularly in North America.

The S&P 500 fell 51.40 points to 2,823.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 592.05 points, or 2.4%, to 23,650.44, and the Nasdaq dropped 89.41, or 1%, to 8,560.73.

The losses ate into some of the big gains indexes have made since late March, driven lately by investors anticipating the potential reopening of businesses as infections level off in hard-hit areas. Pessimists have called the rally overdone, pointing to the severe economic pain sweeping the world and continued uncertainty about how long it will last.

“The government can declare whatever they want in terms of encouraging people to get out and do stuff,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “Whether or not broad swaths of society do that remains to be seen. It’s going to take seeing people start to get out and do stuff again. That will be the necessary positive development, not just declaring getting things open.”

More gains from companies that are winners in the new stay-at-home economy helped limit the market’s losses. Netflix jumped 3.4% to set another record as people shut in at home look to fill their time. Amazon added 0.8%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.1%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 0.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8%.

European markets were modestly higher. The German DAX was up 0.5%, the French CAC 40 was up 0.7% and the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.7%.

In a sign of continued caution in the market, Treasury yields remained extremely low. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 0.62% from 0.65% late Friday.

Stocks have been on a general upward swing recently, and the S&P 500 just closed out its first back-to-back weekly gain since the market began selling off in February. Promises of massive aid for the economy and markets by the Federal Reserve and U.S. government ignited the rally, which sent the S&P 500 up as much as 28.5% from a low on March 23.

More recently, countries around the world have tentatively eased up on business-shutdown restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus.

But health experts warn the pandemic is far from over and new flareups could ignite if governments rush to allow ”normal” life to return prematurely. The S&P 500 remains nearly 17% below its record high as millions more U.S. workers file for unemployment every week amid the shutdowns.

Many analysts also warn that some of the the recent rally for stocks is due to expectations the economy will pivot quickly and rebound sharply once economic quarantines are lifted. Those could prove to be too optimistic.

“There’s still uncertainty surrounding the reopening of the economy,” said Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at BTIG. “Come fall, are we going to be back on airplanes? Are we going to go out and eat?”
 
Oil prices crumpled even further Tuesday, and U.S. stocks sank to their worst loss in weeks as worries swept markets worldwide about the economic carnage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The market’s spotlight was again on oil, where prices have plummeted because very few people are flying or driving, and factories have shut amid widespread stay-at-home orders. Global demand is set to drop to levels last seen in the mid 1990s. At the same time, oil producers can’t slow their production fast enough, and all the extra crude means storage tanks are quickly running out of room.

The cost for a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June plunged 43% to $11.57. That’s the part of the market that oil traders are focused on and trading most actively. For oil to be delivered next month, which is when storage tanks could top out, the cost of a barrel stood at $10.01. A day earlier, it fell below zero for the first time, meaning traders paid others to take oil off their hands to get rid of the headache of finding where to store it.

Analysts consider prices for U.S. oil to be delivered in June and later as closer to the “true“ price of crude, along with prices for international oils. They did not drop below zero, in part because the storage issues aren’t as pressing for them. But they also slid Tuesday on the same concern: A global economy incapacitated by the virus outbreak doesn’t need to burn as much fuel.

Brent crude, the international standard, for delivery in June lost 24.4% to $19.33 per barrel.

“I don’t think there’s enough time even before the June contract to solve the storage capacity issue, so you see the June contract coming down sharply,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

The crumbling oil market helped drag stocks to their second straight day of losses, and the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for its worst drop since April 1. It followed up on similar declines across Europe and Asia.

The S&P 500 fell 86.60 points to 2,736.56. The losses were widespread, with 94% of stocks in the index down. Even shares of some recent winners in the new stuck-at-home economy dropped. Netflix slipped 0.8% before it announced its quarterly results after trading closed, including a 23% rise in global memberships.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 631.56 points, or 2.7%, to 23,018.88, and the Nasdaq was down 297.50, or 3.5%, to 8,263.23.

“The markets have largely escaped panic mode but are not out of the volatility yet,” said Brian Nick, chief investment strategist for Nuveen.

ASX 200 expected to tumble lower.
It looks set to be another disappointing day for the S&P/ASX 200 index. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 107 points or 2.1% lower. This follows another very poor night on Wall Street.

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Oil’s Chaotic Collapse Deepens; Stocks Drop Worldwide
Oil prices are continuing to collapse, and U.S. stocks dropped to their worst loss in weeks as worries sweep markets about the economic damage caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 21, 2020, at 5:27 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices crumpled even further Tuesday, and U.S. stocks sank to their worst loss in weeks as worries swept markets worldwide about the economic carnage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The market’s spotlight was again on oil, where prices have plummeted because very few people are flying or driving, and factories have shut amid widespread stay-at-home orders. Global demand is set to drop to levels last seen in the mid 1990s. At the same time, oil producers can’t slow their production fast enough, and all the extra crude means storage tanks are quickly running out of room.

The cost for a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June plunged 43% to $11.57. That’s the part of the market that oil traders are focused on and trading most actively. For oil to be delivered next month, which is when storage tanks could top out, the cost of a barrel stood at $10.01. A day earlier, it fell below zero for the first time, meaning traders paid others to take oil off their hands to get rid of the headache of finding where to store it.

Analysts consider prices for U.S. oil to be delivered in June and later as closer to the “true“ price of crude, along with prices for international oils. They did not drop below zero, in part because the storage issues aren’t as pressing for them. But they also slid Tuesday on the same concern: A global economy incapacitated by the virus outbreak doesn’t need to burn as much fuel.

Brent crude, the international standard, for delivery in June lost 24.4% to $19.33 per barrel.

“I don’t think there’s enough time even before the June contract to solve the storage capacity issue, so you see the June contract coming down sharply,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

The crumbling oil market helped drag stocks to their second straight day of losses, and the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for its worst drop since April 1. It followed up on similar declines across Europe and Asia.

The S&P 500 fell 86.60 points to 2,736.56. The losses were widespread, with 94% of stocks in the index down. Even shares of some recent winners in the new stuck-at-home economy dropped. Netflix slipped 0.8% before it announced its quarterly results after trading closed, including a 23% rise in global memberships.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 631.56 points, or 2.7%, to 23,018.88, and the Nasdaq was down 297.50, or 3.5%, to 8,263.23.

“The markets have largely escaped panic mode but are not out of the volatility yet,” said Brian Nick, chief investment strategist for Nuveen.

In another sign of the concern washing over markets, Treasury yields fell further. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 0.56% from 0.62% late Monday, meaning investors are willing to get paid even less to get the safety of owning a U.S. government bond.

Even with all the chaos in the oil markets, some signs of economic activity on the horizon were poking through elsewhere. The Senate approved a coronavirus aid bill worth nearly $500 billion that would provide more loans to small businesses and aid to hospitals. Georgia’s governor, meanwhile, announced plans late Monday to allow gyms, hair salons and other businesses to reopen as early as Friday.

Rising optimism among some investors that parts of the economy could reopen as infections level off have helped stocks rally recently, and the S&P 500 is up more than 22% since hitting a low in late March. The rally got its start after the Federal Reserve and Congress promised massive amounts of aid for the economy.

“It looks like we’re bending the infection curve, there are signs of economic reopening and the stimulus is there,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “All of which are good signs for the markets where there’s a potential scenario where the economy starts to recover.”

But the data coming in on the economy continues to be dismal, including a Tuesday report that showed the steepest drop for U.S. sales of previously occupied homes since 2015. Pessimists say the market’s rally has been overdone and that a premature reopening of the economy could lead to only more flareups of infections.

“If you start to see cases go back up in a pronounced way, it’s a sign that we may have trouble escaping this,” said Nuveen’s Nick.

Companies are also describing the hit to earnings they’re taking due to the outbreak, with many pulling their financial forecasts for the year given all the uncertainty about how long this recession will last. Coca-Cola said Tuesday that its sales were on track to hit financial targets through February, but that all changed when stay-at-home orders became widespread in March. It said it’s hopeful that improvement could arrive in the second half of the year. IBM on late Monday withdrew its guidance for 2020 results and said it will reassess at the end of June.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty about this market,” said Ameriprise Financial’s Joy, “and it’s understandable because the visibility on earnings and the economy even is very limited still.”
 
Stock rose on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 recovered a chunk of this week’s sharp losses as a bit of oxygen pumped through markets around the world.

Even oil gained ground, pulling further away from zero after earlier getting turned upside down amid a collapse in demand. Stocks rose from Seoul to Spain, and winners outnumbered losers in New York by more than two to one. Treasury yields also pushed higher in a sign of a bit less pessimism among investors.

”This has been a tremendously good reminder that the stock market is a forward predictor,” said Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Investors are still bracing for a severe, painfully deep recession after businesses shut down worldwide in hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. But they had already sent U.S. stocks down by roughly a third a month ago on that expectation. Now, even as depressing economic and health reports pile up, some investors are looking ahead to the prospect of parts of the economy reopening as infections level off in some areas.

“Right now, it’s about the economy beginning to open, even at the margins,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “We’re watching Germany, the largest economy in Europe, begin to open. What this suggests is if things go well in these economies, we’re going to see more states begin to open, and perhaps open more broadly.”

The S&P 500 rose 62.75 points, or 2.3%, to 2,799.31 and trimmed its loss for the week to 2.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 456.94, or 2%, to 23,475.82, and the Nasdaq composite picked up 232.15, or 2.8%, to 8,495.38.

Energy stocks jumped to some of the market’s biggest gains, riding the ripple of strengthening oil prices. Halliburton, Apache and Diamondback Energy all added at least 9%. All three, though, are still down more than 60% for the year so far.

ASX 200 poised to storm higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set to return to form on Thursday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 53 points or 1% higher this morning. This follows a positive night on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones rise 2%, the S&P 500 climb 2.3%, and the Nasdaq index jump 2.8%. Rebounding oil prices and strong earnings helped lift U.S. markets.

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Stocks Climb Worldwide as Oil Prices Crawl off the Floor
Markets around the world rose Wednesday, and the S&P 500 recovered a chunk of this week’s sharp losses.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 22, 2020, at 5:01 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock rose on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 recovered a chunk of this week’s sharp losses as a bit of oxygen pumped through markets around the world.

Even oil gained ground, pulling further away from zero after earlier getting turned upside down amid a collapse in demand. Stocks rose from Seoul to Spain, and winners outnumbered losers in New York by more than two to one. Treasury yields also pushed higher in a sign of a bit less pessimism among investors.

”This has been a tremendously good reminder that the stock market is a forward predictor,” said Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Investors are still bracing for a severe, painfully deep recession after businesses shut down worldwide in hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. But they had already sent U.S. stocks down by roughly a third a month ago on that expectation. Now, even as depressing economic and health reports pile up, some investors are looking ahead to the prospect of parts of the economy reopening as infections level off in some areas.

“Right now, it’s about the economy beginning to open, even at the margins,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “We’re watching Germany, the largest economy in Europe, begin to open. What this suggests is if things go well in these economies, we’re going to see more states begin to open, and perhaps open more broadly.”

The S&P 500 rose 62.75 points, or 2.3%, to 2,799.31 and trimmed its loss for the week to 2.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 456.94, or 2%, to 23,475.82, and the Nasdaq composite picked up 232.15, or 2.8%, to 8,495.38.

Energy stocks jumped to some of the market’s biggest gains, riding the ripple of strengthening oil prices. Halliburton, Apache and Diamondback Energy all added at least 9%. All three, though, are still down more than 60% for the year so far.

The price of a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June jumped 19% to settle at $13.78. It had zig-zagged in the morning before turning higher after President Donald Trump threatened the destruction of any Iranian gunboats that harass U.S. Navy ships, raising the possibility of a disruption to oil supplies.

The big gain, though, means it’s recovered just a fraction of its steep losses. It was close to $30 at the start of last week and nearly $60 at the beginning of the year. A collapse in demand for energy combined with continued production in countries around the world means too much oil is sloshing around, depressing its price.

Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 5.4% to $20.37 per barrel.

Other companies that have been hurt by the coroanvirus pandemic also rose after offering some slight hints of hope.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, for example, said that a key sales figure plunged 16% in March on widespread stay-at-home orders. But it hit a bottom during the week of March 29, down 35%, and has since improved a bit. Declines the past week were “in the high teens.” Its shares rose 12.1%.

Stocks of companies that have been winners in the new stuck-at-home economy, meanwhile, are also telling investors just how much they’ve been benefiting.

With people hunkered inside and craving communication, Snap said that the number of active users on Snapchat each day jumped 20% in the first three months from a year ago. Its revenue topped Wall Street’s expectations, and Snap shares jumped 36.7%.

Netflix has also been a big winner as people look to fill their time, with shares recently hitting a record. It added nearly 16 million global subscribers in the first three months of the year, but shares slipped 2.9% after its profits didn’t quite live up to Wall Street’s lofty expectations.

Toilet paper has also been hugely in demand, and the maker of Cottonelle and Scott said its sales benefited in the first three months of the year as customers stocked up on them and Kleenex tissue, among other items. Shares of Kimberly-Clark rose 2.4%.

In an increasingly common move, Kimberly-Clark also retracted its financial forecasts for 2020 given how uncertain the global economy is due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Senate late Tuesday approved a $483 billion proposal to deliver more loans to small businesses and aid to hospitals. The House is expected to vote on it Thursday.

The new bill would come on top of more than $2 trillion in aid that Congress has already approved. That, plus massive support for markets from the Federal Reserve, has helped the S&P 500 rise 25% since a low in late March. The index has roughly halved its loss from its record set in February.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.61% from 0.57% late Tuesday. But it remains well below the 1.90% level where it started the year.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX returned 1.6%, France‘s CAC 40 gained 1.2% and the FTSE 100 in London added 2.3%. In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.7%.
 
An early rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished on Thursday, the latest example of how fragile the hopes underpinning the stock market’s monthlong recovery are.

The S&P 500 initially shot higher in the morning, completely brushing aside another stunning report showing millions of workers are losing their jobs by the week. Investors were looking ahead, beyond the current economic misery, to the prospect of a reopening economy amid expectations that the coronavirus outbreak may be leveling off in areas around the world.

But all of its gain, which topped out at 1.6%, vanished in a span of seconds following a discouraging report about a possible treatment for COVID-19. After that, the S&P 500 flipped between gains and losses through the afternoon and ended the day down 0.1%.

It’s a microcosm of the extreme swings that have gripped markets for months, as investors struggle to set prices for where corporate profits and the economy will be months into the future.

Investors sent the S&P 500 skidding by a third from its record in February until a month ago, before the recession hit, on expectations that severe economic pain was on the way. Since then, the index has roughly halved its losses on a series of tenuous hopes for the future — hope that a reopening economy will allow companies to grow profits again, hope that massive aid from the Federal Reserve and Congress can temper the economic pain and hope that possible treatments for COVID-19 may be on the way.

A report from the Financial Times on Thursday afternoon undercut that third hope. It said a potential antiviral drug for the virus flopped in a clinical trial, citing documents published accidentally by the World Health Organization.

Shares of the company behind the drug, Gilead Sciences, flipped from a 3.3% gain to a 4.3% loss after the report. It also helped flip the market.

The S&P 500 finished at 2,797.80, down 1.51 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.44 points, or 0.2%, to 23,515.26 after losing almost all of a 409-point gain. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.63 points to 8,494.75.

ASX 200 poised to push higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index looks set for a positive finish to the week. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 0.2% or 11 points higher this morning. This follows a mixed night of trade on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones rise 0.2%, the S&P 500 edge 0.05% lower, and the Nasdaq index end flat.

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https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...sian-shares-mostly-rise-as-oil-prices-recover

Hope Dashed: Early Rally Vanishes, Leaving Wall Street Mixed
An early rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished Thursday in the latest example of how fragile the stock market’s recovery of the last month is.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 23, 2020, at 4:55 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, ALEX VEIGA and DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — An early rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished on Thursday, the latest example of how fragile the hopes underpinning the stock market’s monthlong recovery are.

The S&P 500 initially shot higher in the morning, completely brushing aside another stunning report showing millions of workers are losing their jobs by the week. Investors were looking ahead, beyond the current economic misery, to the prospect of a reopening economy amid expectations that the coronavirus outbreak may be leveling off in areas around the world.

But all of its gain, which topped out at 1.6%, vanished in a span of seconds following a discouraging report about a possible treatment for COVID-19. After that, the S&P 500 flipped between gains and losses through the afternoon and ended the day down 0.1%.

It’s a microcosm of the extreme swings that have gripped markets for months, as investors struggle to set prices for where corporate profits and the economy will be months into the future.

Investors sent the S&P 500 skidding by a third from its record in February until a month ago, before the recession hit, on expectations that severe economic pain was on the way. Since then, the index has roughly halved its losses on a series of tenuous hopes for the future — hope that a reopening economy will allow companies to grow profits again, hope that massive aid from the Federal Reserve and Congress can temper the economic pain and hope that possible treatments for COVID-19 may be on the way.

A report from the Financial Times on Thursday afternoon undercut that third hope. It said a potential antiviral drug for the virus flopped in a clinical trial, citing documents published accidentally by the World Health Organization.

Shares of the company behind the drug, Gilead Sciences, flipped from a 3.3% gain to a 4.3% loss after the report. It also helped flip the market.

The S&P 500 finished at 2,797.80, down 1.51 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.44 points, or 0.2%, to 23,515.26 after losing almost all of a 409-point gain. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.63 points to 8,494.75.

“It should be expected — even as we are optimistic, and we see signs of progress in treatment, testing and vaccines — that there’s going to be some forward and some backsliding,” said Nela Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

She said that investors are still encouraged by signs of progress in the fight against the coronavirus, particularly in the number of fatalities and new cases in some areas.

“The risk is that these fundamentals that we’re seeing now that are dastardly, just terrible and reflective of the economy really going into a sudden stop, last longer than what the markets currently anticipate,” she said. “That uncertainty will cause volatility, even if the overall trajectory in the market is positive.”

Among the dastardly numbers arriving Thursday: Preliminary data on manufacturing and services activity in Europe and the United States came in even weaker than economists expected, as did a report on sales of new U.S. homes. The headliner, though, was the report showing another 4.4 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. That brought the total over the last five weeks to 26 million, or roughly one in six U.S. workers.

Analysts said investors may have found some encouragement in that last week’s number of jobless applications dipped slightly from the prior week, 5.2 million. Plus, investors were initially willing to look to past the dismal data because they were already fully expecting to see it.

”Numbers for the short term, when they’re reported, it’s almost like a sigh of relief that they aren’t higher,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Las Vegas Sands jumped 12% for the largest gain in the S&P 500 after executives said travel restrictions in Macau, where the casino operator gets the bulk of its revenue, could begin to ease in May or June.

Energy stocks were also strong after the price of crude oil rose for a second straight day after getting upended earlier this week. Apache, Devon Energy and Halliburton all rose more than 8%, though all three also remain down at least 58% for the year.

U.S. crude oil for delivery in June rose 19.7% to settle at $16.50 a barrel. It has recovered after falling below $12 Monday, though it remains well below the roughly $60 level it started the year at. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4.7% to $21.33 a barrel.

As stocks closed trading Thursday, the House was also set to vote on another nearly $500 billion in small-business loans and aid for hospitals, a proposal the Senate approved earlier this week. The Federal Reserve and Congress have promised trillions of dollars in aid for the economy and markets, which helped launch the market’s rally in late March.

“Certainly the degree of stimulus that has been put into the system, providing a bridge to the other side of the crisis, this is a necessary progression to keep businesses and consumers afloat, so there’s some positive reaction for the markets on the back of that as well,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

European and Asian markets ended higher.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 0.59% from 0.61% late Wednesday. Yields tend to fall when investors are downgrading their expectations for the economy and inflation ahead.
 
In a manic week full of previously unthinkable market moves, Wall Street ended Friday with one reminiscent of what things were like before the coronavirus outbreak upended everything.

The S&P 500 glided to a gain of 1.4%, with Apple, Microsoft and other technology stocks leading the way, as they did so many times before the economy shut down in hopes of slowing the spread of the outbreak. The bond market was quiet, while crude prices climbed again.

The gains offered a soothing coda for a wild week, which began with Monday’s astonishing plummet for oil and carried through Thursday’s sudden disappearance of a morning stock rally, as markets pinballed from fear to hope and back again.

“The market sort of feels like Dorothy coming to the crossroads and has yet to meet the scarecrow to tell her which way to go,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The S&P 500 still lost 1.3% for the week as worries about the economic damage dealt by the coronavirus outbreak outweighed hopes that businesses could soon reopen. That snapped the first two-week winning streak for the S&P 500 since it began selling off in February.

Reports piled higher through the week showing the pandemic is bludgeoning the economy even more than economists had feared. Roughly one in six U.S. workers has filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks.

The damage is so severe that a heavily divided Congress has reached bipartisan agreement on massive support for the economy. President Donald Trump signed a bill Friday to provide nearly $500 billion more, including loans for small businesses and aid for hospitals.

The big question for markets is when the economy can reopen, said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management. Businesses can get by for a few months on government help, he said, but if the shutdown drags on longer they could be permanently damaged.

Many investors have essentially agreed to swallow horrific corporate profits and economic data in upcoming months, and they’re turning their focus to who can survive and eventually grow their profits in the future.

Next week will be one of the busiest of this earnings season, with more than 150 companies in the S&P 500 reporting how much they made during the first three months of the year. Many companies have been pulling their profit forecasts entirely for 2020 given all the uncertainty, and Wall Street is slashing its own estimates.

“I don’t really think that’s added to the concern of investors because they assume that companies will be doing a lot of writing down in this bad year so that 2021 could look even better,” said CFRA’s Stovall.

The S&P 500 added 38.94 points to 2,836.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.01, or 1.1%, to 23,775.25, and the Nasdaq composite added 139.77, or 1.7%, to 8,634.52.

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One Month Chart
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Wall Street Ends Manic Week With a Gain, Led by Tech Stocks
Stocks rose on Wall Street Friday, led by familiar names in technology including Apple.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 24, 2020, at 5:05 p.m.

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — In a manic week full of previously unthinkable market moves, Wall Street ended Friday with one reminiscent of what things were like before the coronavirus outbreak upended everything.

The S&P 500 glided to a gain of 1.4%, with Apple, Microsoft and other technology stocks leading the way, as they did so many times before the economy shut down in hopes of slowing the spread of the outbreak. The bond market was quiet, while crude prices climbed again.

The gains offered a soothing coda for a wild week, which began with Monday’s astonishing plummet for oil and carried through Thursday’s sudden disappearance of a morning stock rally, as markets pinballed from fear to hope and back again.

“The market sort of feels like Dorothy coming to the crossroads and has yet to meet the scarecrow to tell her which way to go,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The S&P 500 still lost 1.3% for the week as worries about the economic damage dealt by the coronavirus outbreak outweighed hopes that businesses could soon reopen. That snapped the first two-week winning streak for the S&P 500 since it began selling off in February.

Reports piled higher through the week showing the pandemic is bludgeoning the economy even more than economists had feared. Roughly one in six U.S. workers has filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks.

The damage is so severe that a heavily divided Congress has reached bipartisan agreement on massive support for the economy. President Donald Trump signed a bill Friday to provide nearly $500 billion more, including loans for small businesses and aid for hospitals.

The big question for markets is when the economy can reopen, said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management. Businesses can get by for a few months on government help, he said, but if the shutdown drags on longer they could be permanently damaged.

Many investors have essentially agreed to swallow horrific corporate profits and economic data in upcoming months, and they’re turning their focus to who can survive and eventually grow their profits in the future.

Next week will be one of the busiest of this earnings season, with more than 150 companies in the S&P 500 reporting how much they made during the first three months of the year. Many companies have been pulling their profit forecasts entirely for 2020 given all the uncertainty, and Wall Street is slashing its own estimates.

“I don’t really think that’s added to the concern of investors because they assume that companies will be doing a lot of writing down in this bad year so that 2021 could look even better,” said CFRA’s Stovall.

The S&P 500 added 38.94 points to 2,836.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.01, or 1.1%, to 23,775.25, and the Nasdaq composite added 139.77, or 1.7%, to 8,634.52.

Gains for big tech stocks led the way. Tech makes up an outsized portion of the S&P 500 following years of market dominance. And because changes in market value dictate the index’s moves, the performance of the biggest stocks can have a disproportionate effect.

Stocks have been generally rallying since late March on promises for massive aid from Congress and the Federal Reserve, along with more recent hopes that parts of the economy may be close to reopening. In Georgia, some businesses began welcoming back customers on Friday after the governor eased a monthlong shutdown.

But many professional investors have been skeptical of the market‘s recent rally. They say there’s still too much uncertainty about how long the recession will last and that attempts to reopen the economy could trigger more waves of infections if they’re premature.

In a demonstration of how hungry the market is for a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, the S&P 500 erased a rally of more than 1% in a span of seconds on Thursday following a discouraging report about a potential drug treatment. The Financial Times said a Chinese study of the drug found no positive effect, citing data published accidentally by the World Health Organization, though the company behind the drug said the data represented “inappropriate characterizations” of the study.

Through all the volatility, many investors saving for retirement have been holding steady. They’re calling in for advice much more often, but the majority of savers with 401(k) accounts at Fidelity did not pull back on their contributions during the quarter.

The S&P 500 is down 16.2% from its record in February, though it’s more than halved its loss since late March.

The price of a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June rose 2.7% to settle at $16.94. It had sunk as low as $6.50 earlier this week on worries that storage tanks are close to topping out amid a collapse in demand. Worries about extra oil with nowhere to go sent prices in one corner of the U.S. oil market below zero on Monday.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.5% to $21.44 per barrel.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 0.60% from 0.61% late Thursday. Yields tend to fall when investors are downgrading their expectations for the economy and inflation.

European and Asian stock markets fell.

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ASX 200 expected to jump higher.
The ASX 200 looks set to jump higher on Monday morning after a positive night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 index is expected to open 1.6% or 82 points higher this morning. On Friday on Wall Street the Dow Jones climbed 1.1%, the S&P 500 rose 1.4%, and the Nasdaq index stormed 1.7% higher.
 
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