1. Dow poised to fall after diving nearly 1,000 points on Thursday
Traders work during the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 5, 2020 on Wall Street in New York. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP) (Photo by JOHANNES EISELE / AFP via Getty Images)
Photo by Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images
US stock futures indicated a drop of more than 800 points for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the opening on Friday, during a crazy week that saw the blue shavings break out of the correction and then come back . The Dow Jones lost nearly 1,000 points on Thursday, but was followed before Friday’s session for weekly gains.
Investors sold stocks and bought bonds due to concerns over the global spread of the coronavirus. The 10-year Treasury yield, which is moving in the opposite direction to the price, continued its incredible drop in March, dropping to a new historic low on Friday below 0.7% before recovering a little. The 10-year yield broke below 1% for the first time on Tuesday after the 0.5% emergency cut by the Federal Reserve, which was not well received and intended to mitigate the economic slowdown of the virus.
In another security trade, gold is having its best week in over a decade. Oil prices plunged about 4% on Friday morning, pushing them further into a bear market. OPEC is trying to persuade Russia, a non-cartel ally, to accept a reduction in production to support crude prices.
2. February employment report arrives better than expected
The US economy added 273,000 non-farm jobs in February, the government announced Friday morning. Economists were looking for wage gains of 175,000 people. Officials said no impact on the coronaviruses was seen in these figures. The unemployment rate fell last month to 3.5%, as expected, reaching its lowest level in more than 50 years.
Average hourly earnings have increased by 3% in the past year, according to estimates, while the average work week, considered a key measure of productivity, could reach 34.4 hours. Despite the solid numbers, Wall Street was still headed for a negative opening.
3. Facebook Tells San Francisco Bay Jobs To Work From Home
Signage is posted outside the Facebook Inc. headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the United States, on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Facebook tells employees in the San Francisco Bay Area – including its headquarters in Menlo Park – to work from home. The social network discards all events in the bay region and tells workers to cancel all trips inside and outside the region. Earlier this week, a Facebook employee based in one of the Seattle offices tested positive, and the company told local employees to work from home. Two Microsoft employees in Washington State contracted the coronavirus. Earlier this week, the company asked employees from Puget Sound and the California Bay Area to work from home and limit travel.
4. Global cases of coronavirus exceed 100,000
Global cases of coronavirus have increased to more than 100,000 with at least 3,280 deaths. The vast majority of cases are still in China, the country of origin of the virus in December. However, in the three largest hotspots outside of China, South Korea has nearly 6,600 with 42 deaths; Italy has more than 3,800 cases with 148 deaths; and Iran has more than 3,500 with 124 dead.
The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States has increased to 12, with more than 225 cases reported in the country. California and Washington State have the highest number of cases. Washington State has seen 11 of the deaths. The other was in California. Global coronavirus cases have increased to over 95,000 with at least 3,280 deaths.
5. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon recovers from emergency heart surgery
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, appears on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2020.
Adam Galica | CNBC
JPMorgan President and CEO Jamie Dimon, 63, recovers after undergoing emergency heart surgery. Co-chairs Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith sent a memo to employees and shareholders, stating that Dimon had undergone a successful procedure to repair an acute aortic dissection and was alert and in good health. CNBC’s Wilfred Frost reports that Dimon woke up with chest pain Thursday morning and went to the hospital. Pinto and Smith will jointly lead the business as Dimon recovers. Dimon was treated for throat cancer in 2014. While undergoing eight weeks of chemotherapy at the time, Dimon still ran the New York-based bank. He fully recovered.