US 10-Year Treasury Yield at its Record Low Level as Virus Fears Persist

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in red - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 76.29 points or 2.36% lower at 3,149.61, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index plunged by 704.71 points or 2.52% lower at 27,256.09, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded lower at 9,038.29, down by 182.99 points or 1.98% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 3:05 PM ET).

US News: On 25^th February 2020, investors looked to recover from the losses on the previous day, as the Wall Street stocks opened in the green. Mastercard stock was down by 4.42 per cent as the company’s CEO Ajay Banga stepped down. Barclays stock was also down by 1.22 per cent, as the security was downgraded by a ratings firm. American Airlines Group stocks were down by 8.52 per cent, as the investors did not seem happy with the company’s strategic partnership announcement with Qatar Airways. Competitor Alaska Airlines’ stocks were also down by 8 per cent, following the worsening market environment for airlines. HomeDepot stocks were up by 3.11 per cent, as the company’s earnings came in better than expected, beating the previously made market estimates.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Keysight Technologies Inc, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Intuit Inc are top gainers and increased by 9.20%, 4.78% and 4.41% respectively.

Worst Performers*: A.O. Smith Corp, Newmont Corporation and Activision Blizzard Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 3.71%, 1.15% and 0.91% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Cocrystal Pharma Inc, VivoPower International Plc, and Correvio Pharma Corp are top gainers and increased by 72.93%, 44.83% and 23.06% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Lipocine Inc, Cornerstone OnDemand Inc, and AxoGen Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 29.78%, 22.16% and 16.03% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Technology (UP 1.12%), Energy (UP 1.10%) and Consumer Cyclicals (up 0.73%).

Worst Performing Sectors*: Basic Material (Down 0.23%) and Telecommunication services (Down 0.20%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Home Depot Inc, Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc are top gainers and increased by 2.35%, 1.86% and 1.01% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Pfizer Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Travelers Companies Inc are top laggards and decreased by 0.61%, 0.60% and 0.36% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 138.95 points or 1.94% lower at 7,017.88, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 401.90 points or 1.90% lower at 20,715.97, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 76.50 points or 1.91% lower at 3,921.63 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended, down by 7.26 points or 1.76 per cent, at 404.60.

European News: At the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development, economists estimated that the impact of European Rules will hurt UK more than just tariffs post Brexit. Impact from pre-shipment inspections, sanitary regulations, and quality control measures (tariffs and non-tariffs) is more than twice when compared with just tariffs impact. Among the stocks that were buzzing in Tuesday’s trading session - Credit investor Pollen Street Secured Lending shares accelerated by around 6.7 per cent as it was in talks with Waterfall Asset Management about a sale. Shares of Meggitt plunged by around 5.1 per cent due to disruptions from coronavirus outbreak and warning of the effect of suspended production of Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft. As Chief Executive Meinie Oldersma of Building materials supplier SIG Plc is about to get replaced, its shares were hammered significantly by around 18 per cent during the Tuesday’s trading session.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: DE LA RUE PLC (DLAR), LINDSELL TRAIN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (LTI) and POLLEN STREET SECURED LENDING PLC (PSSL) are top gainers and increased by 21.60%, 8.33% and 6.76% respectively.

Worst Performers*: SIG PLC (SHI), RICARDO PLC (RCDO) and PORVAIR PLC (PRV) are the top three laggards and decreased by 17.68%, 10% and 6.85% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

Five days Price Performance (February-25-2020), before the market closed; Source: Thomson Reuters

Top Gainers*: NMC HEALTH PLC (NMC), BUNZL PLC (BNZL) and PRUDENTIAL PLC (PRU) are top gainers at the FTSE 100 index and climbed by 5.30%, 3.65% and 1.44% respectively.

Top Laggards*: MEGGITT PLC (MGGT), CARNIVAL PLC (CCL) and KINGFISHER PLC (KGF) are top three laggards in today’s session and reduced by 5.11%, 4.24% and 3.61% respectively.

Volume Leaders*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (HSBA) HSBC HLDGS PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC.

Sectors in the negative zone*: Utilities (-1.56%), Consumer Cyclicals (-1.46%), and Energy (-1.34%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.3003 and 0.8365, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.330%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.513%, respectively.

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*At the time of writing