The Dow Jones finished barely in the green after being down most of the day on concerns about continued rough first-quarter earnings and another 5.2 million jobless claims filed last week, plus more in today’s Closing Bell on Money & Markets.
The Top Story
It was a choppy day on the Dow Jones Industrial Average as first-quarter earnings continued to plunge and another 5 million-plus Americans filed for unemployment.
Wall Street has swung this week between hopes of peaking in coronavirus cases and fears of the biggest economic slump since The Great Depression, as the lockdown measures crushed business activity.
The latest data showed jobless claims fell slightly to 5.2 million last week from an upwardly revised 6.62 million the week before, but the total figure for the past month still topped a stunning 20 million.
Wall Street’s fear gauge rose for the second straight session while the flight from risk pressured U.S. Treasury yields.
“We are still struggling to grab a foothold on the deterioration of what’s going on,” Delos Capital Advisors chief investment officer Andrew Smith said. “The jobless claims number is better than what economists expected, but it’s still a little too soon to be extrapolating to the ‘all clear ahead’ road.”
A 8% fall for Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) sent the blue-chip Dow down 0.6% at one point, as its European rival Airbus said it was examining requests to defer deliveries after a collapse in travel demand.
The Nasdaq outperformed the broader market with Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) surging to record highs as sweeping stay-at-home orders drove demand for online streaming services and home delivery of goods.
The Dow Jones finished just above flat at 0.1%. The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 1.6%.
Stock Market Update: Closing Bell*
S&P 500: 2,799 (+0.5%)
DOW: 23,537 (+0.1%)
NASDAQ: 8,532 (+0.8%)
GOLD: $1,735.60 (-0.2%)
BITCOIN: $6,993.80 (+3.9%)
U.S. 10-YEAR YIELD: 0.61% (-0.02)
*- as of 4:15 p.m.
A Big Win
In this morning’s Opening Bell, we told you about Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) as the company reported a drop in net sales, but still beat analyst expectations. Its earnings were also lower but topped projections. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond rose 18%.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) shares tanked 11.4% after the airline announced it is trimming back its May capacity to just 10%.
After reporting strong earnings and revenue, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) shares jumped 4.2%. The bank reported earnings of $0.17 per share, which were higher than Wall Street projected.
Golden Nuggets
A brutal jobs report and investors seeking profit from earlier gains pushed some precious metals lower.
Gold futures fell 0.2% to trade at $1,735.20 an ounce after hitting session lows around midday. Silver futures jumped 1.3% to $15.70 an ounce.
Platinum was off by 0.1% to $803.40, while palladium was down 1.6% to $2,119.40 an ounce.
Cannabis Corner
Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) said it was halting cannabis cultivation in Africa, Canada, Columbia and the United States in an effort to “improve efficiencies.”
The company told Marijuana Business Daily it also planned to trim 85 full-time positions from its payroll — most of which coming from its Columbia operations.
Canopy Growth said it is not scaling back its cultivation efforts in Europe.
In a news release, company officials said they expect up to a $566 million loss in the fourth quarter.
Paycheck Protection Program is Out of Money
The Small Business Administration said its small business loan program has reached its $350 billion limit and is now out of money.
“By law, the SBA will not be able to issue new loan approvals once the programs experience a lapse in appropriations,” the organization said in a statement.
The Paycheck Protection Program was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.
Congress is now debating how to potentially extend the program. A proposal by Senate Democrats to add $250 billion in funds was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., last week.
Today’s Big Winners:
Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) +8.5%
JD.com Inc. (Nasdaq: JD) +6.5%
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) +6%
Today’s Big Losers:
Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) -13.1%
United Airlines Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) -11.4%
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) -8%
Check back for the most important news and numbers each day after the Closing Bell, only on Money & Markets.