Global Equities Fell as Governments Escalate Lockdowns to Curb the Spread of Global  Coronavirus Pandemic

US Markets Broader indices in the United States traded in red - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 60.52 points or 2.63% lower at 2,244.40, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index contracted by 502.43 points or 2.62% lower at 18,671.55, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded lower at 6,838.70, down by 40.81 points or 0.59% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 1:40 PM ET).

US News: US Government has decided to aid the households, small businesses and major employers by providing unprecedented credit to tame the jolted economy by several programs, resulting U.S. corporate credit spreads getting narrowed. As per James Bullard (the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), US economy is expected to lose USD 2.5 trillion of income in the second quarter, due to drastic economic contraction and abruptly rising unemployment. Meanwhile, the US dollar continues to strengthen on Monday, post 5% rise over the last week. As a blessing in disguise, streaming services Netflix and Roku risen steeply by around 7% since the majority of the population staying at home amid Corona pandemic, which has led to an increase of subscribers for media streaming giants. On the other hand, Apple’s market value declined below USD 1 trillion and the stock plunged by 5% today due to supply chain issues and stores shut down in the wake of COVID-19. Also, General Electric’s aviation unit decided to reduce 10% of US workforce, and the Company’s share plunged by 3.9%. On 23^rd March 2020, US Markets faltered again, despite a new package injunction by the Federal reserve to calm the markets. Boeing also jumped significantly in pre-market trade, as its stocks were up by around 8 per cent, after a ratings upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Goldman’s own shares were up by 1.1 per cent, as it was made public news that the company had locked its liquidity funds, especially during the coronavirus crisis period. Deere and company shares slipped by around 2.2 per cent, following a decline in demand for auto products.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Hasbro Inc, Microchip Technology Inc and Helmerich and Payne Inc shares increased by 13.90%, 10.26% and 9.42% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Kohls Corp, Macy’s Inc and Truist Financial Corp shares decreased by 16.53%, 15.12% and 10.69% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Alterity Therapeutics Inc, Hoth Therapeutics Inc, and Jiayin Group Inc shares expanded by 136.08%, 90.24% and 60.51% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Frontier Communications Corp, Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc and One Group Hospitality Inc shares plunged by 56.59%, 34.78% and 31.82% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Consumer Non-Cyclicals (Up 2.58%), Basic Materials (Up 0.58%) and Healthcare (Up 0.31%).

Non-Performing Sectors*: Financials (Down 3.73%), Utilities (Down 2.54%) and Industrials (Down 2.50%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Intel Corp, Home Depot Inc and Walmart Inc are the top gainer and Increased by 5.61%, 4.52% and 2.47%.

Worst Performers*: United Technologies Corp, Visa Inc and Chevron Corp are top laggards and decreased by 7.86%, 6.68% and 6.50% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 196.89 points or 3.79% lower at 4,993.89, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 514.63 points or 3.79% lower at 13,078.01, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 109.19 points or 3.85% lower at 2,727.86 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended down by 12.61 points or 4.30 per cent at 280.43.

European News: On macro front, the pound plummeted to 1.16 US dollar for one British pound, which is a slight drop from where it was trading on Friday. This comes on the backdrop of the massive surge in the reported cases in the United states . On the other hand, FTSE 100 index tanked 3.45 per cent, on account of the British government further tightening the lockdown rules, affecting the movement of people in the country. Till now in the United Kingdom around 5,702 positive cases of coronavirus infections have been reported out of which 282 have been reported as dead. Among the stocks on the London Stock Exchange, prominent gainers were – Kingfisher Plc  (KGF), up by 12.25 per cent and M&G Plc (MNG) which gained  3.71 per cent. Hargreaves Lansdown Plc (HL) dipped by 14.5 per cent and Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR) fell by 13.19 per cent.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: SPIRE HEALTHCARE GROUP PLC (SPI), RICARDO PLC (RCDO) and ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA GLOBAL (AML) are top movers and rose by 28.80%, 21.86% and 20.07% respectively.

Worst Performers*: CINEWORLD GROUP PLC (CINE), MICRO FOCUS INTERNATIONAL PLC (MCRO) and SIRIUS REAL ESTATE LD (SRE) plunged by 22.27%, 22.10% and 20.61% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (March-23-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)

Best Gainers*: KINGFISHER PLC (KGF), ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC (RDSA) and M&G PLC (MNG) expanded by 13.99%, 4.65% and 3.98% respectively.

Beaten Down Shares*: HARGREAVES LANSDOWN PLC share (HL.), CENTRICA PLC share (CNA) and ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC share (RR.) plunged by 14.11%, 13.99% and 13.47% respectively.

Shares traded with high-level volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (BP.) BP PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC.

Top Sector traded in the positive zone*: Energy (up 2.21%).

Top Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Technology (down 6.36%), Utilities (down 6.12%) and Industrials (down 5.41%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were hovering at 1.1554 and 0.9303, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was tilting at 0.742%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.424%, respectively.

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*At the time of writing