Oil Prices Reversed Early Gains After Data Showed US Crude Production at Record Level

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 91.86 points or 3.06% higher at 3,095.23, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index accelerated by 874.50 points or 3.37% higher at 26,791.91, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 8,919.44, up by 235.35 points or 2.71% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 2:45 PM ET).

US News: On 4^th March 2020, on the back of Fed’s pre-emptive Interest rate cuts as a response to the economic Implications of the coronavirus, US Stocks opened in the Green. General Electric shares were up by 1.8 per cent, as the company maintained its forecast for cash flow in FY 2020, despite a short term Coronavirus Impact. Nordstrom shares were down by 8.0 per cent, down to a 7 month low price, following a disappointing guidance declaration for the year. Dollar Tree shares were down by 2.5 per cent, after announcing mixed results for Q4 2019, which reported a growth in earnings despite a fall in revenue for the period. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares were also down by approximately 3.3 per cent, as the company failed to meet its consensus forecasts. On the back of a marginal increase of activity in its production facilities in China, Apple stocks were up by around 2.1 per cent. Abercrombie & Fitch shares were up by 4.8 per cent after issuing a forecast for FY 2020 better than what the Wall Street had previously expected.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Elite Performers*:Â Centene Corp, Anthem Inc, and UnitedHealth Group Inc traded in green zone and leapt up by 14.38%, 13.11% and 11.97% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co, Charles Schwab Corp, and Nordstrom Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 6.27%, 2.98% and 2.54% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Castor Maritime Inc, Cellect Biotechnology Ltd, and Dynatronics Corp are top gainers and increased by 106.79%, 67.94% and 31.64% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Cardlytics Inc, Recro Pharma Inc, and MicroVision Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 33.25%, 27.32% and 22.39% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Telecommunication services (up 2.76%), Utilities (up 2.11%) and Consumer Non-Cyclicals (up 1.92%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: UnitedHealth Group Inc, Pfizer Inc, and American Express Co are top gainers and increased by 12.70%, 3.12% and 2.77% respectively.

Worst Performers*: JPMorgan Chase & Co decreased by 0.62%.

European Markets: Broader London’s equity benchmark index FTSE 100 closed at 97.39 points or 1.45% higher at 6,815.59, the FTSE 250 index traded at 60.18 points or 0.31% higher and closed at 19,742.83, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended Wednesday’s trading session 46.29 points or 1.24% higher at 3,795.38 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended the session 5.17 points or 1.36 per cent higher at 386.30.

European News: In economic news, the all-sector IHS Markit/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers’ Index for the month of February 2020 stood at 53.0 compared to 52.8 registered for the month of January 2020. The growth rate is the fastest since September 2018. The figure also suggests that the British economy is growing at just over 0.2 per cent faster than the year ending growth of 2019. The IHS Markit company conducted the survey between 12 February 2020 and 26 February 2020 when much of the coronavirus impact had not been felt by the country. In business news, British Banking major Barclays today announced plans to permanently shut its Leeds Units which would impact nearly 1,000 jobs with the company. The closing down of the facility would impact technology, operations and customer service departments of the company.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: SIRIUS MINERALS PLC (SXX), RIVERSTONE ENERGY LIMITED (RSE) and TT ELECTRONICS PLC (TTG) are top gainers and increased by 17.46%, 13.10% and 10.99% respectively.

Worst Performers*: INTU PROPERTIES PLC (INTU), SAGA PLC (SAGA) and HOSTELWORLD GROUP PLC (HSW) are the top three laggards and decreased by 31.98%, 9.89% and 8.29% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

 5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (March-04-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)

Top Gainers*: MORRISON(WM.)SUPERMARKETS PLC (MRW), RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLC (RB.) and STANDARD CHARTERED PLC (STAN) traded in green zone and expanded by 4.88%, 3.85% and 3.64% respectively.

Top Slackers*: INTL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP SA (IAG), ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC (RR.) and WHITBREAD PLC (WTB) were among the beaten down stocks and contracted by 3.04%, 2.39% and 2.28% respectively.

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

Sectors in the positive zone*: Telecommunications Services (up 2.40%), Basic Materials (up 2.33%), and Healthcare (up 2.17%).

Sectors in the negative zone*: Technology (down 0.13%).

Currency Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2870 and 0.8658, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was trading at 0.986%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.378%, respectively.

*At the time of writing