US close: Late bout of selling drags Wall Street lower heading into the weekend
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Saturday 28 Mar 2020
(Sharecast News) - US stocks finished lower at the end of the week even after the US House of Representative voted in favour of an approximately $2.0trn economic relief package following a late bout of selling.
Earlier, reports that some lawmakers in the lower chamber of Congress might try to stop the economic relief package had weighed on sentiment, but a rally following its approval gave way to selling in the last half hour of trading.
In the background, investors were monitoring the headlines around Covid-19 and trying to anticipate the next stage for both the pandemic and the global economy.
At session close, the Dow Jones Industrials was down 4.06% to 21,636.78, alongside a 3.37% fall for the S&P 500 to 2,541.47, which was weighed down by travel and energy issues, while the Nasdaq Composite was off by 3.79% to 7,502.38.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures meanwhile fell 4.82% to $21.51 on NYMEX.
In a stark warning overnight, World Health Organisation chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told the assembled G-20 country leaders that shutdowns were necessary but so too was more testing and tracing of cases in order to combat it.
"The price we end up paying depends on the choices we make now. The actions we take now will have consequences for decades to come," he said.
The day before the S&P 500 had risen for a third consecutive day, for its biggest three-day jump in nine decades, leaving investors wondering aloud whether the current rally had more legs.
Analysts at Bank of America believed that it did, thanks to the prompt action taken by economic authorities, with the key now whether a repeat of something akin to the 2008 crisis, when the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers sent the global financial system into meltdown, could be avoided.
They recommended clients keep tabs on the LQD exchange traded fund which tracked investment grade bonds.
As long as it remained above $120, its 200-week moving average, then they did not expect the S&P to retest its lows at 2,250, and if it moved above $126, then the S&P 500 could clamber back atop 2,850.
Economic news on the ground was rather downbeat, but not completely so.
Consumer confidence registered its fourth steepest one-month drop in March in half a century, with the fall almost on a par with the 1980 recession, the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The University of Michigan's widely-followed consumer confidence index dropped from a reading of 101.0 for February to 89.1 in March (consensus: 94.0).
University of Michigan survey director, Richard Curtin, said: "To avoid an extended recession, economic policies must quickly adapt to a new era that will reorder the spending and saving priorities of consumers as well as the relative roles of the public and private sectors in the U.S. economy."
However, according to Department of Commerce, personal income growth jumped at a 0.6% month-on-month pace in February (consensus: 0.4%).
Dow Jones - Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $110.28 2.60%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $100.03 1.30%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $109.58 -0.22%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $83.23 -1.27%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $52.77 -1.44%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $164.01 -2.00%
3M Co. (MMM) $133.24 -2.16%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $190.55 -2.39%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $71.73 -2.45%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $162.00 -10.27%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $68.78 -9.95%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $96.40 -8.50%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $97.15 -7.16%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $91.13 -7.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $52.37 -5.71%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $242.45 -5.07%
American Express Co. (AXP) $88.73 -4.89%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $36.95 -4.82%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $105.44 -4.58%
S&P 500 - Risers
Extra Space Storage (EXR) $96.02 6.89%
AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) $160.27 6.10%
United Domin Rlty Trust (UDR) $37.94 6.04%
Apartment Investment & Management Co. (AIV) $34.98 5.97%
Equity Residential (EQR) $62.68 5.82%
Ventas Inc. (VTR) $30.39 5.78%
Duke Realty Corp. (DRE) $32.08 4.70%
Mid Amer Apt Commun (MAA) $107.50 4.68%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $29.56 4.64%
Essex Prty Trust Inc. (ESS) $228.37 4.53%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $12.02 -23.49%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $14.41 -19.14%
Apache Corp. (APA) $4.86 -15.63%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $34.50 -15.05%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $6.29 -14.54%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $17.80 -14.22%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $20.94 -14.04%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $141.57 -12.00%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $36.38 -11.76%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $63.31 -11.47%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $98.96 3.74%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $140.04 1.62%
NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK) $18.93 1.07%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $231.74 0.59%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $30.18 0.07%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $108.24 0.00%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $179.20 0.00%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $47.97 0.00%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $198.18 -0.11%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $449.52 -0.61%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $141.57 -12.00%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $63.31 -11.47%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $1,255.15 -10.73%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.04 -10.34%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $68.20 -8.48%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $252.62 -8.44%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $45.05 -8.43%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $60.17 -8.36%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $177.04 -7.62%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $174.45 -7.62%
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