Stocks bounced back after suffering a record-setting selloff last week despite the fact that the first U.S. death linked to the coronavirus was reported over the weekend and the domestic death toll has risen to six as of the time of this writing. However, Fed Chair Powell’s statement Friday afternoon that the central bank will use its "tools and act as appropriate" to respond to the outbreak, along with a report that the G7 finance ministers are expected to hold a conference call tomorrow to discuss measures to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus, helped to support stocks and bring out buyers that spent all of last week on the sidelines.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's PMI dipped to 50.7 in the final February reading, down from the 50.8 preliminary and 1.2 points lower than the 51.9 reading for January. The ISM manufacturing index slipped 0.8 ticks to 50.1 in February after bouncing 3.1 points to a reading of 50.9 in January.
In COVID-19 news, Bloomberg said that the sixth death due to the coronavirus outbreak has been reported in the U.S. Bloomberg added that all six deaths linked to the virus in the U.S. have been in the Seattle area.
In election news, CBS reported that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has suspended her presidential campaign and will endorse former Vice President Joe Biden. The news comes ahead of "Super Tuesday" voting and after South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg suspended his presidential campaign yesterday.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Twitter (TWTR) rose 7.9% after Bloomberg reported that Paul Singer's Elliott Management is seeking to force the departure of Jack Dorsey and the New York Times indicated in a report of its own that the hedge fund's stake could be worth about $1B, or roughly 4% of Twitter's market value.
Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz upgraded Apple (AAPL) to Outperform from Perform with a $320 price target, arguing that its products and services "will prove more resilient than competitive products in uncertain times." In a research note partially titled "Own the Recurring Revenue Machine," Uerkwitz added that he expects "temporary shifts" of iPhone shipment between product cycles to have an immaterial impact on the stock and recommends buying Apple on the recent selloff.
Apple supplier NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) provided an update to its revenue guidance due to potential impacts from the novel coronavirus. Although it has been a challenge "getting our arms around the actual business impact of the virus," the semiconductor maker currently expects the impact to revenue in the first quarter to be in the range of $50M-$150M.
In M&A news, Forty Seven (FTSV) announced an agreement to be acquired by Gilead Sciences (GILD) for $95.50 per share in cash, or approximately $4.9B. The addition of Forty Seven’s investigational lead product candidate, magrolimab, will strengthen Gilead’s immuno-oncology research and development portfolio, the company said.
Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE), has died at the age of 84, it was reported this morning. Meanwhile, JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa, who has become the most noted bear on the stock on Wall Street, upgraded General Electric shares to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $8, up from $5. Tusa says the spread between his free cash flow estimate and consensus is narrower after the company's better than expected 2019.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that UBS (UBS) CEO Sergio Ermotti, who will be departing the Swiss bank later this year, is set to become chairman of Swiss Re (SSREY) next year.
Additionally, Reuters said that Chevron (CVX) is offering buyouts to reduce its U.S. oil exploration and production workforce as a way to cut costs amid sharply lower oil and gas prices.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Karyopharm (KPTI), which surged 69.6% after it said its Phase 3 BOSTON study met its primary endpoint. Also higher was Co-Diagnostics (CODX), which gained 34.6% after it said it will provide COVID-19 tests to U.S. CLIA labs.
Among the notable losers was Novavax (NVAX), which dropped 24.9% after the company filed with the SEC to sell up to $150M of shares. Also lower was GTT Communications (GTT), which fell 7.5% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 1,293.96, or 5.09%, to 26,703.32, the Nasdaq gained 384.80, or 4.49%, to 8,952.16, and the S&P 500 advanced 136.01, or 4.6%, to 3,090.23.
+2.62 (+7.89%)
Apple
+24.2 (+8.81%)
NXP Semiconductors
+6.54 (+5.75%)
Forty Seven
+35.88 (+61.86%)
Gilead
+6.03 (+8.69%)
GE Aerospace
+0.12 (+1.08%)
UBS
+0.26 (+2.36%)
Swiss Re
+ (+0.00%)
Chevron
+3.24 (+3.47%)
Karyopharm
+11.53 (+70.78%)
Co-Diagnostics
+4.69 (+35.75%)
Novavax
-3.58 (-22.92%)
GTT Communications
-1.045 (-6.94%)