Airlines Slash Prices as Coronavirus Crisis Deepens

Global Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 23.20 points or 0.74% higher at 3,151.41, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index accelerated by 202.07 points or 0.75% higher at 27,283.43, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 9,052.36, up by 86.75 points or 0.97% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 10:15 AM ET).

Global News: On 26^th February 2020, as the President Donald Trump slammed mainstream media for panicking markets with reports related to coronavirus, the US market showed improvement in opening trade. However, in the afternoon trading session, stocks turned in the negative territory and erased all it’s early strong morning gains. Covid-19 virus is on the cusp of being a global pandemic as warned by an FDA official. Among the stocks that were buzzing in Wednesday’s trading session - Walt Disney shares were down by 1.1 per cent as the company’s CEO Robert Iger decided to step down effective immediately. Virgin Galactic shares declined by 3.4 per cent as the company reported net loss in fourth quarter. American Airlines, United and Delta shares increased between 1.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent, shown stabilisation after sharp falls.

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S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Micron Technology Inc, Netflix Inc, and CME Group Inc are top gainers and increased by 3.17%, 2.34% and 2.32% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Salesforce.com Inc, PulteGroup Inc, and D R Horton Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 2.40%, 2.40% and 2.19% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp, Nemaura Medical Inc, and Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc are top gainers and increased by 112.66%, 51.72% and 19.81% respectively.

Worst Performers*: MicroVision Inc, Aptorum Group Ltd, and DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd are the top three laggards and decreased by 51.23%, 39.03% and 31.69% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Technology (up 0.34%), Consumer Non-cyclicals (up 0.83%) and Financials (up 0.68%).

Worst Performing Sectors*: Energy (down 3.24%) and Telecommunication services (down 0.19%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Visa Inc, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, and Microsoft Corp are top gainers and increased by 1.73%, 1.31% and 1.29% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Home Depot Inc, Walt Disney Co, and Coca-Cola Co are top laggards and decreased by 0.46%, 0.39% and 0.02% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 24.59 points or 0.35% higher at 7,042.47, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 93.02 points or 0.45% lower at 20,622.95, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 6.37 points or 0.16% higher at 3,928.00 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended, down by 0.02 points or 0.01 per cent, at 404.62.

European News: In economic news, Former finance minister Sajid Javid has said today that the Government should desist urge to increase it public spending which would result in the increase in the countries fiscal deficit. The former minister while stating that he continued to support the Boris Johnson, Government did not see eye to eye with many of the aides of Boris Johnson on the matter of public expenditure. It is to be noted here that the government has announced its intentions a couple of days back to increase public expenditure by as much as £1 trillion in order to grow and new phase of development in the country. Sajid Javid’s successor Rishi Sunak is set to deliver the Budget in the Parliament this March.

 London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: WEIR GROUP PLC (WEIR), NMC HEALTH PLC (NMC) and XPS PENSIONS GROUP PLC (XPS) are top gainers and increased by 7.20%, 6.84% and 4.79% respectively.

Worst Performers*: MCCOLL'S RETAIL GROUP PLC (MCLS), SAGA PLC (SAGA) and LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC (LIO) are the top three laggards and decreased by 14.38%, 13.07% and 10.89% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

Five days Price Performance (February-26-2020), before the market closed; Source: Thomson Reuters

Top Gainers*: NMC HEALTH PLC (NMC), SMURFIT KAPPA GROUP PLC (SKG) and SMITH (DS) PLC (SMDS) are top gainers at the FTSE 100 index and climbed by 6.91%, 3.47% and 2.00% respectively.

Top Laggards*: COMPASS GROUP PLC (CPG), TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC (TW.) and WHITBREAD PLC (WTB) are top three laggards in today’s session and reduced by 4.17%, 3.88% and 3.47% respectively.

Volume Leaders*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC.

Sector in the positive zone*: Healthcare (up 0.45%).

Sectors in the negative zone*: Consumer Cyclicals (-1.92%), Telecommunications Services (-1.46%), and Consumer Non-Cyclicals (-1.27%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2913 and 0.8438, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.310 %, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.502 %, respectively.Â

*At the time of writing