US Federal Reserve Announces Roll Out of Emergency Moves to Ease a Global Dollar Funding Crunch

US Markets Broader indices in the United States traded in red - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 66.16 points or 2.75% lower at 2,343.25, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index contracted by 490.23 points or 2.44% lower at 19,596.96, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded lower at 7,019.96, down by 130.61 points or 1.83% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 3:30 PM ET).

US News: U.S. stocks opened slightly higher, albeit it is the still the worst month in three decades. While, Bloomberg dollar spot index slightly fell by 1.8%. Also, U.S. Finance and exchanges stated that markets would stay open during the pandemic state of Coronavirus, since it is critical for preserving consumer confidence. Meanwhile, the oil market fell over uncertainties that U.S. authorities might curb domestic supply. On the brighter side, US existing home sales rose 13 years high to 6.55% to 5.77 million units last month. Among the stocks, a few gainers were - Crowdstrike rose by 19.3%, post the cybersecurity firm reported merely 2 cents per share loss, as against 8 cents anticipated by analysts; Uber stock increased by 9.8% after, CEO unveiled a positive assessment of the company's liquidity position. Biotech and hospitality stocks also gone up sharply, the stock includes - Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Everi Holdings, among others. A few laggards were - Continental Resources, Inc. stock plunged by 5%, post announcement that it has reduced its 2020 capital budget guidance to $1.2 billion (55% decline) from its original guidance of $2.65 billion; Ford and Harley Davidson lost 0.7% and 7% respectively due to production shutdown.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: MGM Resorts International, Ventas Inc and Carnival Corp shares increased by 29.48%, 25.73% and 23.70% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Loews Corp, Invesco Ltd and Arconic Inc shares decreased by 12.46%, 10.06% and 9.84% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc, Aemetis Inc, and Sonim Technologies Inc shares expanded by 401.47%, 161.90% and 112.42% respectively.

Worst Performers*: Biomerica Inc, Chanticleer Holdings Inc and Waitr Holdings Inc shares plunged by 45.69%, 40.20% and 38.46% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Energy (Up 5.07%), and Technology (Up 1.68%) and Consumer Cyclicals (Up 1.20).

Top Worst Sectors*: Consumer Non-Cyclicals (Down 2.26%), Financials (Down 0.59%) and Utilities (Down 0.56%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Travelers Companies Inc, Intel Corp and McDonald’s Corp are the top gainer and Increased by 7.95%, 4.64% and 4.45%.

Worst Performers*: Procter &Gamble Co, 3M Co and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc are top laggards and decreased by 5.22%, 5.05% and 5.03% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 39.17 points or 0.76% higher at 5,190.78, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 762.94 points or 5.95% higher at 13,592.64, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 48.68 points or 1.75% higher at 2,837.05 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended, up by 5.24 points or 1.82 per cent, at 293.04.

European News: On macro front, the pound plummeted to 1.19 US dollar for one British pound, due to the continuing state of panic surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic. On the other hand, FTSE 100 index has climbed 1.24 per cent, on account of the rate cut decision announced by the Bank of England yesterday. In United Kingdom, the Competition and market commission has said that it would crack down on companies who are profiteering on the fears of the general public and selling merchandise at exorbitant prices. Till now in the United Kingdom 3,269 positive cases of coronavirus infections have been reported out of which 144 have been reported as dead. Among the stocks on the London Stock Exchange, prominent gainers were – Carnival Plc (CCL.L) gaining 29.60 per cent and JD Sports fashion Plc (JD.L) which gained 19.29 per cent. M&G PLC (MNG.L) dipped by 9.53 per cent and Schroders PLC (SDR.L) fell by 7.24 per cent.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: LUCECO PLC (LUCE), RIVERSTONE ENERGY LIMITED (RSE) and MERIAN CHRYSALIS INVESTMENT COMPANY (MERI) are top movers and rose by 67.73%, 35.96% and 35.71% respectively.

Worst Performers*: CAPITA Plc (CPI), U AND I GROUP Plc (UAI) and PETRA DIAMONDS (PDL) plunged by 13.39%, 8.99% and 8.54% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (March-20-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)

Best Gainers*: JD SPORTS FASHION PLC (JD), EASYJET PLC (EZJ) and INTERTEK GROUP PLC (ITRK) expanded by 17.72%, 15.65% and 14.31% respectively.

Top Slackers*: M&G PLC (MNG), TUI AG(TUI) and KINGFISHER PLC (KGF) plunged by 6.99%, 6.66% and 6.59% 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 (up 5.13%), Consumer Cyclicals (up 4.52%) and Industrials (up 3.53%)

Top Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Consumer Non-Cyclicals (down 2.75%), Utilities (down 1.17%), and Technology (down 0.72%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were hovering at 1.1578 and 0.9210, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was tilting at 0.908%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.555%, respectively.

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*At the time of writing