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Stock Market News for Apr 6, 2020

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Wall Street closed sharply lower on Friday as the U.S. non-farm pay-roll declined significantly in March due to the partial lockdown imposed by the government to ensure social distancing in order to curb coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, the deadly virus infected more than 260,000 Americans with a death toll that surpassed 6,600. All three major stock indexes ended in the red for the day as well as for the whole week.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) tumbled 1.7% or 360.91 points to close at 21,052.53. Notably, 24 components of the 30-stock blue-chip index ended in red while 6 finished in the green. The S&P 500 dropped 1.5% to close at 2,488.65.The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) plunged 3.6%. Notably, ten out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in red while one ended in the green. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,373.08, shedding 1.5% or 114.23 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 8.1% to close at 46.80, its lowest closing since Mar 6. A total of 11.57 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 15.75 billion.Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 3.53-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.73-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

Disappointing Jobs Data in March

The Department of Labor reported that the U.S. no-farm employment declined a massive 701,000 in March surpassing the consensus estimate of a job decline of 107,000. Meanwhile, February's data was revised upward by 2,000 to 275,000 while January's data was revised downward by 59,000 to 214,000.

March's data reflects the first monthly job decline since September 2010 and the highest since May 2009 when the economy lost 800,000 jobs. However, many economists have argued that actual job loss in March is much bigger than this number. The BLS has calculated the jobless data up to Mar 12. However, the initial jobless claims by American reached nearly 10 million in the last two weeks of March due to coronavirus-led partial lockdown.

The unemployment rate jumped to 4.4% from a 50-year low of 3.5% in February. The data was outpaced the consensus estimate of 3.9%. March's unemployment rate was the highest since August 2017. Like job data, the actual unemployment rate is likely to be much higher. The real unemployment rate -- including discouraged workers and part-time job holders -- climbed 7% to 8.7%, its highest since March 2017 and the largest single-month change since January 1975.

The average work week declined slightly to 34.2 from 34.4 in the previous month. However, the average hourly wage increased 0.4% or $0.11 to $28.62 in March. Both the consensus estimate and previous month's gain was 0.3%. Meanwhile, year over year,  hourly wage rate rose 3.1% in March from 3% in February.

Almost 2/3 of the total job loss in March came from restaurants, hotels and related businesses in leisure and hospitality industries. In addition, health care and social assistance, professional and business services, retail and  Construction sectors witnessed massive job decline.

Crude Oil Prices Soar

Crude oil prices rallied on Apr 3 following news that the OPEC and the Russia-led consortium will hold a virtual meeting on Apr 6 to take a decision on production cut. Russian President Vladimir Putin also reportedly said that his government wants global action on crude oil supply cuts of around 10 million barrels per day. As a result, the price of the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped 11.93% or $3.02 to settle at $28.34 per barrel. International benchmark, the Brent crude climbed 13.9% to settle at $34.11 per barrel.

For the week, WTI's price skyrocketed 31.7%, marking the best weekly gain in its history. Consequently, shares of New Fortress Energy LLC (NFE - Free Report) gained 1.6%. New Fortress Energy carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Other Economic Data

The Institute of Supply Management reported that the U.S. nonmanufacturing (services) index plunged to 52.5% in March from 57.3% in February, marking the slowest pace of expansion since August 2016. However, the data surpassed the consensus estimate of 42.7. Notably, any reading above 50 indicates expansion of services activities. However, a similar survey conducted by the IHS Markit reported that the U.S. services index plummeted to 39.8 in March from 49.4 in the prior month. This indicates the largest decline in the history of the index.

Weekly Roundup

Last week was a disappointing one for Wall Street. All three major stock indexes -- the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite -- dropped 2.7%, 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively. All these indexes witnessed third weekly decline in last four weeks. The market remain extremely as coronavirus continued to spread in the United States and 157 other countries in the world. Most countries have imposed full or partial lockdown in order to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Stocks That Made Headline

Intuit's Latest Product to Help Americans Get Stimulus Check

Intuit Inc. (INTU - Free Report) is riding on the solid traction of its tax preparation platform, TurboTax, which is also strengthening the company’s Consumer business. (Read More)

Alphabet Tracks Coronavirus Cases Using Location Data

Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google recently collaborated with researchers from the University of Southampton in the U.K. to help people track the spread of coronavirus using anonymized and aggregated location data. (Read More)

Garmin Expands Marine Portfolio With quatix 6 Smartwatch

Garmin Ltd. (GRMN - Free Report) seems not to be content enough when it comes to making advances in the booming wearable market on the back of the expanding smartwatch portfolio. (Read More)

Coronavirus-Hit Delta Expects 90% Decline in Q2 Revenues

Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) anticipates second-quarter 2020 revenues to plunge 90% as passenger volumes and revenues continue to fall. (Read More)

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

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Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

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