The major indexes bounced off their opening lows, but the S&P rally attempt has lost steam near midday despite the fact that the BOE and ECB unveiled nearly $1T in easing measures over the last 18 hours. In the U.S., lawmakers are currently working on a bill to provide economic stimulus while President Trump just held a press conference from the White House to discuss progress that pharmaceutical companies are making on vaccine and treatment candidate to fight COVID-19.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims surged 70,000 to 281,000 in the week ended March 14. The Philly Fed index plunged a record 49.4 points to -12.7 in March. The current account deficit narrowed to $109.8B in Q4. The leading economic index rose 0.1% to 112.1 in February.
Additionally, the Fed announced its 3rd emergency lending facility overnight, MMLF. The Fed created a Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility to lend to financial institution secured by high quality assets by these institutions from money market mutual funds.
In Europe, the ECB last night announced a EUR 750B Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program and added that it "is fully prepared to increase the size of its asset purchase programs and adjust their composition, by as much as necessary and for as long as needed." Meanwhile, the Bank of England announced this morning that it will increase holdings of UK government bonds and sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bonds by GBP 200B to a total of GBP 645B and reduced its Bank Rate by 15 basis points to 0.1%.
TOP NEWS: Ford (F), the day after announcing along with peers General Motors (GM) and FCA (FCAU) that it will be halting production in North America, suspended its dividend this morning and withdrew its guidance due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The company also announced that it notified lenders that it will borrow a total of over $15B that is unused against two lines of credit to offset the temporary working capital impacts of the coronavirus-related production shut downs and to "preserve Ford's financial flexibility."
Marriott (MAR) provided a business update on the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation, stating that it has withdrawn all parts of its 2020 outlook due to the pandemic but also pointing to "very early" signs of improvement in Greater China.
Shares of Uber (UBER) are on the rise on Thursday after the company said in a call with investors that it has plenty of cash on hand to get through the coronavirus outbreak. Near noon, Uber shares are up 34% while those of ride-sharing rival Lyft (LYFT) have gained 25%.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas upgraded Tesla (TSLA) to Equal Weight from Underweight, saying that despite the near-term negative economic impacts arising from the COVID-19 crisis, the electric carmaker has sufficient cash and liquidity available to weather near-term disruptions to production and sales. Meanwhile, in a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that, "We will make ventilators if there is a shortage...Tesla makes cars with sophisticated hvac systems. SpaceX makes spacecraft with life support systems. Ventilators are not difficult, but cannot be produced instantly."
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced that the New York Stock Exchange will initiate its business continuity plan and move, on a temporary basis, to fully electronic trading on Monday, March 23.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Ebix (EBIX), which rose after it said its core platforms are "running as normal" amid the coronavirus outbreak. Also higher was Guess (GES), which advanced after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was EQT Corporation (EQT), which slid after Credit Suisse analyst William Janela assumed coverage of the stock with a Neutral rating and $8 price target. Also higher was 1Life Healthcare (ONEM), which declined after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 10.92, or 0.05%, to 19,888.00, the Nasdaq was up 124.32, or 1.78%, to 7,114.16, and the S&P 500 was down 2.93, or 0.12%, to 2,395.17.
Ford
-0.245 (-5.46%)
General Motors
+0.55 (+3.21%)
Ticker changed to STLA
-0.72 (-10.43%)
Marriott
-0.09 (-0.14%)
Uber
+4.77 (+32.19%)
Lyft
+3.75 (+23.36%)
Tesla
+44.46 (+12.30%)
IntercontinentalExchange
+0.21 (+0.30%)
Ebix
+3.71 (+42.02%)
Guess
+6.33 (+163.99%)
EQT Corporation
-1.225 (-14.06%)
1Life Healthcare
-1.44 (-8.14%)