Stocks bounced back strongly from yesterday's decline as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she has "real optimism" that a stimulus bill will get done today after a compromise that will see the inspector general oversee the $500B company fund that will likely be included in the legislation. The CARES Act has grown to an unprecedented $2T relief package from $1.3T last Thursday and other lawmakers are also expressing their view that Republicans and Democrats are getting close to passing the bill. Meanwhile, President Trump tweeted earlier that "our people want to return to work," adding that "THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW." He followed that up by stating during a town hall on Fox that he "would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter," or April 12.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: The U.S. Treasury Department issued a statement that G7 Leaders "are taking action and enhancing coordination on our dynamic domestic and international policy efforts to respond to the global health, economic, and financial impacts associated with the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 - COVID-19." Collectively, G7 nations "will do whatever is necessary to restore confidence and economic growth and to protect jobs, businesses, and the resilience of the financial system," the joint statement asserted.
In U.S. data, Markit's flash manufacturing index for March fell 1.5 points to 49.2. The Richmond Fed index defied the coronavirus with a surprising 4 point March rise to a reading of 2. New home sales also soared past estimates with a restrained 4.4% February pullback to a robust 765,000 home pace.
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 396,249 cases of COVID-19 and 17,252 deaths.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a town hall on Fox that he would "love" to have the United States "opened up and raring to go by Easter," which is April 12. Additionally, CNBC reported that the White House held a call with finance leaders earlier to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the economy. According to CNBC, President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held a call with finance leaders including Third Point's Dan Loeb, Blackstone's (BX) Stephen Schwarzman, Vista Equity's Robert Smith, Intercontinental Exchange's (ICE) Jeffrey Sprecher, and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.
TOP NEWS: Chevron (CVX) shares jumped 22.7% after the company announced several steps it is taking in response to market conditions, most notably reducing its guidance for 2020 organic capital and exploratory spending by 20% to $16B with reductions expected to occur across the portfolio. Excluding 2020 asset sales and price related contractual effects, the company expects 2020 production to be roughly flat relative to 2019. In addition to reducing capital expenditures, the company is taking other actions, such as suspending its $5B annual share repurchase program after repurchasing $1.75B of shares during the first quarter.
Ford (F) announced that its team members are working with 3M (MMM) to increase the manufacturing capacity of their powered air-purifying respirator, or PAPR, designs and working jointly to develop a new design leveraging parts from both companies to meet the surge demand for first responders and health care workers. In addition, Ford and GE Healthcare (GE) said they are working together to expand production of a simplified version of GE Healthcare's existing ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by COVID-19. At the same time, Ford said it is not planning to restart its plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico on Monday, March 30 as originally hoped.
Automaking peer General Motors (GM) announced that it intends to drawdown approximately $16B from its revolving credit facilities as a "proactive measure to increase GM's cash position and preserve financial flexibility in light of current uncertainty in global markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic." GM is also suspending its 2020 guidance due to uncertainty around the business impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shares of Comcast (CMCSA) were in the spotlight after the company announced that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could have a "material adverse impact" on results over the near- to medium-term. Meanwhile, the President of the International Olympic Committee and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the Olympic games will be rescheduled to no later than summer 2021.
Nike (NKE), which has a global view of both Asia in recovery and the Western world in the grips of the coronavirus crisis, is scheduled to report results of its third fiscal quarter after the market close, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm ET.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Halliburton (HAL) is accelerating its cost-cutting moves and will "significantly" lower its spending below its original $1.2B budget.
Additionally, S&P cut its rating on Delta Air Lines (DAL) to BB from BBB-. The S&P rating of BB is considered "junk" status. In other ratings agency news, Fitch downgraded its long-term rating for Boeing (BA) to BBB from A- to reflect the "rapid escalation of coronavirus pandemic and its effect on Boeing's aviation markets and operations."
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Genworth (GNW), which surged 26% after announcing that the New York State Department of Financial Services has reapproved the proposed acquisition of control by Oceanwide of Genworth's New York-domiciled insurance company, Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York. Also higher was Virgin Galactic (SPCE), which gained 26% after Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas upgraded shares to Overweight from Equal Weight following the greater than 70% pullback in the the stock over the past month.
Among the noteworthy losers was Milestone Pharmaceuticals (MIST), which plunged 87.9% after the company's Phase 3 trial of etripamil failed to meet the primary endpoint relative to placebo. Also lower were MFA Financial (MFA), Invesco Mortgage Capital (IVR), and New York Mortgage (NYMT), which dropped a respective 77.9%, 52.9%, and 46% after the companies said that they either haven't been able to meet margin calls or expect they won't be able to meet margin calls.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 2,112.98, or 11.37%, to 20,704.91, the Nasdaq gained 557.18, or 8.12%, to 7,417.86, and the S&P 500 advanced 209.93, or 9.38%, to 2,447.33.
Boeing
+21.79 (+20.61%)
Blackstone
+3.45 (+9.49%)
IntercontinentalExchange
+6.86 (+10.27%)
Chevron
+12.27 (+22.61%)
Ford
+0.93 (+23.19%)
General Electric
+0.905 (+14.78%)
3M
+14.57 (+12.32%)
General Motors
+3.49 (+19.83%)
Comcast
+0.49 (+1.44%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Nike
+9.57 (+15.23%)
Halliburton
+1.4 (+26.72%)
Delta Air Lines
+4.67 (+21.03%)
Genworth
+0.765 (+25.71%)
Virgin Galactic
+3.37 (+26.12%)
Milestone Pharmaceuticals
-12.02 (-87.42%)
MFA Financial
-2.3501 (-86.72%)
Invesco Mortgage
-2.83 (-52.90%)
New York Mortgage
-0.87 (-46.52%)