White House Considering Economic Stimulus of Around $1 Trillion to Combat Fallout from Coronavirus Pandemic

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green zone - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 95.84 points or 4.02% higher at 2,482.00, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index leapt up by 421.18 points or 2.09% higher at 20,609.70, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded significantly higher at 7,202.85, up by 298.26 points or 4.32% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 11:15 AM ET).

US News: The prominent U.S. stock indices has shown improvement today post the worst day since 1987 crash. The Commerce department has reported that, the US retail sales has declined (0.5%), the most in February since December 2018 and the outbreak of Coronavirus can further worsen the scenario in the upcoming months and subsequently bring potential peril of consumer led recession. The major drop has been observed in auto, clothing, grocery, healthcare and restaurant sector. The U.S. Dollar has also surged as concerns over COVID-19, making it the most liquid currency. The Banks has shown slight improvement with access of Federal’s discount window; consequently, shares of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo grew between 2.0% to 2.6% in pre-market trading. With government’s assistance to aviation sector, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines also grew over 1.4%. Pfizer surged by 3.4% post announcement of deal with Germany's BioNTech SE, to co-develop vaccination for coronavirus. Likewise, Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose by 10.5% with possessing of potential antibiotics to treat COVID-19. On the other hand, underperforming stocks were - Nike (fell by 4.28%), Chevron (declined by 3.50%), Home Depot (plunged by 5.03%), Facebook (declined by 3.03%) and General Electric (down by 3.46%), at the time of writing.

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S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Clorox Co, Corteva Inc and American Tower Corp are top gainers and increased by 16.21%, 15.91% and 13.98% respectively.

Worst Performers*:Â L Brands Inc, Darden Restaurants Inc and Capri Holdings Ltd plunged by 25.49%, 24.51% and 21.12% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*:Â Sundance Energy Inc, Global Eagle Investment Inc, and BioNTech SE are top gainers and increased by 343%, 263.45% and 65.79% respectively.

Worst Performers*: DBV Technologies SA, Bloomin Brands Inc and Caesars Entertainment Corp dipped by 58.17%, 36.58% and 35.86% respectively.

Sectors traded in positive zone*:Â Utilities (up 6.50%), Basic Materials (up 6.13 per cent), and Consumer Non-cyclicals (up 3.44%).

Sector traded in negative zone*:Â Energy (Down 2.71%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Best Performers*:Â Walmart Inc, Dow Inc and Intel Corp expanded by 8.96%, 8.91% and 8.70 per cent respectively.

Worst Performers*: Boeing Co, Mc Donald’s Corp and Home Depot Inc hammered by around 14.24%, 8.06% and 4.15% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index -  FTSE 100 closed at 143.82 points or 2.79% higher at 5,294.90, the FTSE 250 index traded last at 424.87 points or 2.96% lower at 13,924.88, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended Tuesday’s trading session 45.58 points or 1.60% higher at 2,894.45 respectively. Another European equity benchmark STOXX 600 index closed up by 2.26 per cent or 6.44 points at 291.07.

European News: In economic news, British insurance industry body Association of British Insurers has today said that most businesses in the country are not insured against the coronavirus epidemic. Sighting the reason for the same, the association stated that most of the standard insurance contract do not cover business disruptions due to an infectious disease or forced closure by authorities. The body further stated that the industry is not heavily exposed to the pandemic threat and does not expect to report losses for the year.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: ENERGEAN OIL & GAS PLC (ENOG), DIXONS CARPHONE PLC (DC.) and ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA GLOBAL HOLDING (AML) are top movers and rose by 15.71%, 14.35% and 13.90% respectively.

Worst Performers*: HOLLYWOOD BOWL GROUP PLC (BOWL), CINEWORLD GROUP PLC (CINE) and CARD FACTORY PLC (CARD) plunged by 35.20%, 33.94% and 33.65% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (March-17-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)

Best Gainers*: ANTOFAGASTA PLC (ANTO), OCADO GROUP PLC (OCDO) and JUST EAT TAKEAWAY.COM N.V. (JET) expanded by 7.96%, 7.91% and 5.64% respectively.

Top Slackers*: JD SPORTS FASHION PLC (JD.), CARNIVAL PLC (CCL) and TUI AG (TUI) plunged by 16.25%, 13.11% and 12.89% respectively.

Shares traded with high volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC.

Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Utilities (up 2.97%), Healthcare (up 1.83%), and Basic Materials (up 1.36%).

Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Consumer Cyclicals (down 6.53%), Industrials (down 3.86%), and Financials (down 1.14%).

Currency Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2092 and 0.9099, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was hovering at 0.997%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield trading at 0.577%, respectively.

*At the time of writing