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US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 16.49 points or 0.59 per cent higher at 2,815.80, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 179.90 points or 0.77 per cent higher at 23,655.72, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 8,556.77, up by 61.39 points or 0.72 per cent against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 1:20 PM ET).
US News: The Wall Street opened higher despite another bleak status of America’s labour market as further 4.4 million jobless claims have been added in the last week, taking the total to 26.5 million of initial unemployment claims over the past five weeks. Such a hysterical figure represents over 16% of total America’s labour force. However, the claims were slightly lesser than the expected figure. Meanwhile, the new home sales plunged 15.4 per cent in March, as per the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Among the stocks, Union Pacific surged over 6 per cent with a rise in first-quarter profits. Similarly, Expedia grew over 5 per cent as Silver Lake and Apollo Global have taken USD 1.2 billion stake in its fresh capital. Eli Lilly & Co. rose over 4 per cent with sales increase during the first quarter. Equinor gained around 1.3 per cent, post the dividend slash by 67 per cent to sustain amid the historical oil price crash. Dominos and Target plunged around 4.3 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively irrespective of sales increase in the first quarter. Disney fell slightly by 0.86 per cent as S&P Global has downgraded its debt to an “-A”.
S&P 500 (SPX)
Top Performers*: Apache Corp, Las Vegas Sands Corp, and Devon Energy Corp shares increased by 10.93%, 10.24% and 8.83%, respectively.
Non Performers*: Invesco Ltd, Citrix Systems Inc and WW Grainger Inc shares decreased by 8.33%, 6.45% and 4.56%, respectively.
NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)
Top Performers*: Oasis Petroleum Inc, CounterPath Corp and Centennial Resource Development Inc shares expanded by 117.72%, 51.13% and 30.57%, respectively.
Worst Performers*: Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc, Molecular Data Inc and NETGEAR Inc shares plunged by 21.94%, 18.40% and 16.91%, respectively.
Top Performing Sectors*: Energy (+4.92%), Basic Materials (+3.39%) and Healthcare (+1.79%).
Top Worst Sector*: Utilities (-0.06%).
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
Top Performers*: Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Caterpillar Inc are the top gainers and increased by 4.20%, 3.26% and 3.18%, respectively.
Non Performers*: Intel Corp, Mcdonald’s Corp and Walmart Inc shares decreased by 0.98%, 0.95% and 0.87% respectively.
European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 55.98 points or 0.97 per cent higher at 5,826.61, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 207.90 points or 1.33 per cent higher at 15,794.04, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 32.18 points or 1.01 per cent higher at 3,205.67, respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended up by 3.10 points or 0.94 per cent, at 333.24. Among other major European indices, DAX index closed the session at 10,513.79, up by 98.76 points or 0.95 per cent; CAC 40 index increased by 39.20 points or 0.89 per cent and ended the trading session at 4,451.00.
European News: London and European markets showed a mixed response initially, albeit it slightly gained eventually. The Office for Budget Responsibility has stated that the country's budget deficit for 2019-20 might be larger than previously anticipated due to the deepened and intensified impact of the Covid-19 crisis. In other economic news, the Bank of England stated that the economic disruption to the British economy could take centuries to recover, and a quick bounce back is highly unlikely. Among the stocks, Unilever plunged over 2 per cent post pulling its full-year forecast following the weak first-quarter business. Digital food service company Just Eat Takeaway.com dropped around 2 per cent post announcing convertible bond issue. Taylor Wimpey gained over 9.4 per cent after reporting a rise in order book virtually despite the lockdown state. Similarly, Meggitt soared over 6.6 per cent post reporting a 15 per cent increase in quarterly defence revenue.
London Stock Exchange
Top Performers*: TULLOW OIL PLC (TLW), DFS FURNITURE PLC (DFS) and SPEEDY HIRE PLC (SDY) are top movers and rose by 27.80%, 17.36% and 13.72%, respectively.
Worst Performers*: EDISTON PROPERTY INVESTMENT COMPANY (EPIC), ROBERT WALTERS PLC (RWA) and DRAX GROUP PLC (DRX) plunged by 14.26%, 8.80% and 7.96%, respectively.
FTSE 100 Index
5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (April-23-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)
Best Gainers*: TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC (TW), BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS PLC (BDEV) and PERSIMMON PLC (PSN) expanded by 11.95%, 10.35% and 10.05%, respectively.
Non Performers*: LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC (LGEN), OCADO GROUP PLC (OCDO) and AVEVA GROUP PLC (AVV) plunged by 4.11%, 3.66% and 3.25%, respectively.
Shares traded with high-level volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC.
Top Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Energy (+2.89%), Consumer Cyclicals (+2.12%), and Basic Materials (+1.65%).
Top Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Technology (-1.31%), Consumer Non-Cyclicals (-0.71%), and Utilities (-0.27%).
Oil Prices*: WTI crude oil future price was nudging at $16.84 per barrel, and Brent crude oil future price was trading at $21.63 per barrel.
Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were hovering at 1.2350 and 0.8743, respectively.
Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was tilting at 0.609%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.290%, respectively.
*At the time of writing
