The Federal Reserve announced a new $2.3 trillion round of loans to support small businesses and consumers, as well as states, cities and municipalities.
CNN Business created a Coronavirus Markets Dashboardto help you track the stocks, sectors and indicators that are most affected by the pandemic.
28 Posts
Link Copied!
This blog is now closed. Check back Monday for more markets news.
With exchanges closed for Good Friday tomorrow, that concludes this trading week.
The S&P 500 finished up 1.4%. The index recorded its best week since 1974, climbing 12.1%.
The Dow ended up 1.2%, or 286 points. It logged a 12.7% gain on the week.
The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.8% higher. On the week, the index climbed 10.6%, marking its best week since 2009.
Link Copied!
Stocks are losing steam in final hour of trading
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
With less than one hour to go in the trading day, stocks remain mostly in the green but are off their earlier highs garnered after the Fed announced a new $2.3 trillion round of loans.
The Nasdaq Composite even briefly turned negative. The tech-heavy index was last up 0.3%.
The Dow is still up 250 points, or 1.1%, and the S&P 500 is also up 1.1%.
Even so, the shortened week is looking good for the three indexes, all of which are set to log a weekly gain.
Link Copied!
Junk bond ETFs rally has Fed commits to purchases
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
It’s a good day to be an investor in corporate junk bonds.
The iShares iBoxx high yield corporate bond ETF (HYG) is up 5.8%. The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays high yield bond ETF (JNK) is meanwhile up 5.9%. Both funds are on track for their best days since 2008.
Sub-investment grade bond are rated less than BBB-/Baa3. Their issuers are less credit worthy than those with more highly rated debt.
Link Copied!
Wall Street is on track for its best week since 1974
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
US stocks are once again looking at a week for the history books – this time on the up side.
Tomorrow is Good Friday, when many exchanges are closed, so the end of the week is arriving early for traders.
The S&P 500, the broadest measure of the US stock market, is on track for a nearly 13% gain, which would make this week its best since 1974
Meanwhile, the Dow could have its strongest week since 1938, surpassing its performance from two weeks ago, when it gained 12.8%. The index is so far up more than 13% this week.
Link Copied!
Disney shares jump after Disney+ passes 50 million subscribers
From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky and Frank Pallotta
Disney (DIS) shares jumped 5% following after announcing exceptional subscriber numbers for its recently launched streaming service.
Disney+ has 50 million paid subscribers globally, putting it within striking range of its initial subscriber projections just five months after it launched, it announced Wednesday.
The company told investors last year that it projected Disney+ would have 60 million to 90 million global subscribers by 2024. The service is closing in on that milestone in only five months.
The Fed is keeping an eye on the struggling mortgage industry
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
The coronavirus crisis could lead to extensive problems for the mortgage industry. The Federal Reserve is keeping a close eye on the sector in order to avert a crisis, and in particular is focusing on mortgage servicers.
Home owners who are financially harmed by the coronavirus outbreak can postpone their mortgage payments under the terms of the government’s economic relief package. The mortgage servicers themselves, however, are still on the hook for monthly payments, and their balance sheets might not be able to handle the volume of payments coming their way.
“The mortgage market is at the center of our economy,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on a Brookings Institute webinar this morning.
The industry is calling for the government to provide a backstop.
Mortgage forbearances are already skyrocketing. According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, forbearances grew by 1,270% in the first half of March, and then by an additional 1,896% in the second half of the month.
Link Copied!
S&P 500 and Dow are sharply higher after eventful morning
From CNN Busines' Anneken Tappe
It’s been quite the morning for market news, and stocks are in the green.
The Dow is up 1.3%, or 300 points, while the broader S&P 500 has risen 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite is a modest 0.2% higher.
There’s some rare good news today: the Federal Reserve unleashed a $2.3 trillion loan program to support the economy this morning, and Russia and Saudi Arabia are edging closer to a deal on production cuts. Oil prices are up in response and energy stocks are headed higher.
This, along with a lot of negative bad economic news that is already priced into the market, helped investors shrug off another awful coronavirus-related data point: another 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 4.
Link Copied!
Inflation is not a priority concern right now: Powell
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
The Federal Reserve has unleashed its monetary policy might to support the US economy through the coronavirus crisis – and some worry that could lead to a to a spike in inflation down the line.
But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell isn’t concerned.
“It is not a first-order concern for us that too-high inflation might be coming our way,” he said during a Brookings Institute webinar.
People also feared that the quantitative easing policies following the financial crisis would result in inflation, Powell said: “Not only did it not happen, inflation has been below our target.”
Even so, he acknowledged that it’s impossible for policymakers to spend as much time as they usually do on new initiatives. “I worry that in hindsight we can see that we should have done things differently,” he said, “but inflation is not one of those concerns.”
Link Copied!
Fed Chairman Powell expects a 'robust' economic recovery
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
The US economy should rebound fairly quickly when businesses reopen after the coronavirus lockdown ends, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this morning.
Just how quickly the economy can reopen following the outbreak, however, is dependent on the path of the virus, Powell said on a Brookings Institute webinar this morning.
One way or another, the second quarter will be a weak one, he said: “We do expect to see very low economic output an big increases in initial claims and unemployment.”
While the Fed has no influence on the government’s fiscal policies, Powell said we are likely to see more fiscal support from Washington.
The Fed is flexible on when all of its support programs will end, Powell said. Once they get wound down, this would be done gradually.
Link Copied!
Oil prices surge on hopes for global deal to slash production
From CNN Business' Chris Isidore
Oil prices jumped higher Thursday on reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia were close to a deal that could lead to a record cut in production.
OPEC and a group of other oil producers, including Russian, the UK and some US officials, were holding a video meeting Thursday to discuss what could be done to lift prices.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that sources said the Saudis and Russians had cleared obstacles to a deal that could reduce consumption by up to 20 million barrels of crude per day. CNN has not be able to confirm the details of that deal. But crude oil prices were up 8% to 9% on that report.
Link Copied!
Airlines stocks soar following Mnuchin's aid comments
From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House is will begin responding to airlines’ applications for government aid as soon as Friday.
Mnuchin told CNBC that he hopes to give airlines “preliminary information” about loans and grants that were part of the $2 trillion stimulus package. Airlines expect to receive about $12 billion.
“It is our objective, to make sure that I’ve said this is not a bailout, but airlines have the liquidity to keep their workers in place,” Mnuchin said.
Several airlines have applied for the aid. Their stocks moved higher Thursday on the news:
Citi is delaying summer internship start date but will pay interns for 10 weeks
From CNN Business' Alexis Benveniste
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect businesses everywhere, Citi (C) announced that the company is delaying its internship start date, pushing it to July 6.
“Despite the delayed start date, compensation is not impacted and you will receive 10 weeks of pay,” Courtney Storz, Citi’s head of global campus talent acquisition, said in an email to the incoming interns on Thursday.
The company is “considering virtual program delivery” for the internships and plans to share more details in coming weeks, according to the email.
Citi said that all summer interns in its New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo offices will receive full-time offers from the company upon graduation, as long as they meet the requirements of the program. “We realize your college experience is going to be quite different than what you planned or imagined,” the email said.
Link Copied!
Investors shrug off another terrible week for jobless claims
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
US stocks climbed higher at Thursday’s opening bell as investors once again shrugged off a terrible week for jobless claims.
Another 6.6 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims in the week ended April 4.
The Fed launches $600 billion lending program for states and cities
From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica
It’s one bazooka shot after another from Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Fed announced $2.3 trillion’s more in new loans to support the United States economy Thursday. And for the first time, the Fed is planning to directly support local governments that have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Fed said it will earmark $600 billion in loans for states, cities and municipalities. The central bank is also expanded existing efforts to support small businesses and consumers.
“The Fed’s role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible,” Powell said in a statement.
US stock futures rallied higher just ahead of the close, despite bleak data on jobless claims for the week ended April 4. It was the second largest claims number on record at 6.6 million – far more than the consensus estimate of 5.25 million.
Futures, which had been lower ahead of the data, are now sharply up.
Dow futures are 1.5%, or 345 points, higher, while S&P 500 futures are up 1.1%. Nasdaq Composite futures are up 0.9%.
Link Copied!
Yelp cuts 1,000 jobs and furloughs 1,000 more
From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky
The “rapid shutdown of the many local economies” has sent Yelp’s business of compiling reviews of restaurants and other places into a tailspin.
It’s furloughing roughly 1,100 employees and laying off 1,000 workers as it tries to survive the coronavirus crisis, the company announced Thursday.
Executive pay will be slashed by as much as 30%.
Yelp (YELP) shares are down nearly 40% for the year.
Link Copied!
Jobs keep disappearing
From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
Another 6.6 million people filed claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 4.
It was the second largest number of initial unemployment claims in history, since the Department of Labor started tracking the data in 1967.
Altogether, roughly 16.8 million American workers, making up about 10% of the US labor force, have sought aid in the form of jobless benefits in just the prior three weeks alone.About 7.5 million workers received their second week of benefits or more last week.
Gold tops $1,700 an ounce -- highest level since 2012
From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica
Gold is acting like the quintessential safe haven investment that everyone expects it to be. The price of the yellow metal shot up above $1,730 an ounce Thursday morning – the highest level since December 2012.
Gold dipped for a bit during the first few weeks of the coronavirus crisis but it has
since bounced back – and then some. It’s similar to what happened in 2008. Gold prices initially fell at the start of the Global Financial Crisis as panic rocked the financial markets and no assets were spared. But gold eventually recovered even as stocks continued to sink.
With that in mind, some think gold could eventually surpass its all-time highs of above $1,900 an ounce. Gold hit that record during the depths of the euro sovereign debt crisis in 2011. Gold is attractive now that investors are worried about deflation and a global recession. It is also a hedge against a weakening dollar.
And as gold prices climb, so do shares of gold miners. Newmont (NEM), the only pure play gold miner in the S&P 500, soared 10% Thursday while the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) was up more than 7%.
Link Copied!
Stock futures are in the red ahead of jobless claims
Economists expect 5.25 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in the week ended April 4. That would be down from 6.6 million in the prior week, but still the second-largest number on record. The weekly data is considered the closest indicator of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Dow futures are down some 100 points, or 0.5%. Futures for the broader S&P 500 are down 0.8%. Nasdaq Composite futures are 0.7% lower.
