- Stocks fell and 10-year benchmark yields fell to absolute lows as fears of a global coronavirus pandemic and its potential economic fallout continued to plague global markets.
- Coronavirus update: Confirmed cases worldwide have risen to 101,490, with 3,460 deaths (14 deaths in the United States have been reported).
- Costco is the action of the day in real money. The warehouse club retailer posted quarterly profits and sales that exceeded analyst estimates as February benefited from an increase in customer numbers due to concerns about the coronavirus.
Stocks fell sharply on Friday and yields on 10-year benchmark notes bottomed out as fears of a global coronavirus pandemic and its potential economic fallout continue to plague global markets.
The stock rose slightly after data revealed that U.S. employers created 273,000 jobs in February, much more than expected, and that the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%.
However, with more than 101,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide, and government officials, health experts and business leaders recommending travel restrictions, factory closings and home prevention techniques, the Investors are being pushed to safe haven assets such as US Treasuries, gold and the Japanese yen.
The yield on the 10-year note hit an intraday low of 0.694%, just three days after falling below 1% for the first time after the Federal Reserve emergency rate cut. At the last check, the yield was 0.754%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 511 points, or 1.96%, to 25,609, the S&P 500 fell 2.6% and the Nasdaq lost 2.85%.
Wall Street losses on Friday followed a down 969 points for the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the previous session.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Economics said that even if the job numbers were “excellent”, the news unfortunately came “from another planet, and that does not mean that the Fed was wrong to lower rates this week”. Before the report on non-farm wages, Shepherdson said the February data “was not yet a story of coronavirus”.
“The survey was conducted during the week ended Saturday, February 15, four days before market peak,” added Shepherdson on Friday. “We expect a slowdown in gross hiring to bring down the number of March, although we see no evidence that this success has been augmented by increased layoffs, however. April will likely be much worse.”
Costco (COST) – Get a report, the membership-based warehouse retailer, reported second-quarter profits and sales that exceeded analyst estimates as February benefited from increased customer base due to concerns about the coronavirus.
“February sales benefited from higher consumer demand in the fourth week of the reporting period,” Costco said in a press release. “We attribute this to concerns about the coronavirus.”
The company estimated that comparable sales in February increased by 3 percentage points related to the virus.
.JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – Get a report CEO Jamie Dimon underwent emergency heart surgery on Thursday and is recovering in a hospital.
Dimon, 63, suffered an “acute aortic dissection,” JPMorgan said in an employee statement. Dimon was alert and “was recovering well,” the bank said.
JPMorgan co-chairs Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith will run the bank while Dimon recovers. Pinto heads the investment bank for JPMorgan and Smith is the head of his consumer bank.
Apple (AAPL) – Get a report Deutsche Bank analysts lowered their price target on tech giant stocks on Friday, citing “considerable uncertainty” from the impact of the coronavirus.
