Month: March 2020

(Bloomberg) — U.S. stock futures tumbled, wiping out half of the furious last-hour rally Friday and tripping exchange trading curbs, as investors worried that emergency measures by the Federal Reserve will fall short of cushioning the coronavirus’s blows to the economy.Contracts on the S&P 500, whose violent swings have now triggered limits in five of the past six sessions, dropped 4.8% to 2,555.50 as of 6:50 p.m. in New York. While the triggering of limit-down circuit breakers arrests big drops, it also leaves traders in the dark as to the full extent of losses. Last week, investors had to wait …read more […]

Stocks were headed for a drop after the Fed surprised markets by cutting interest rates to zero to fight the coronavirus’s impact on the economy. …read more […]

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Markets were set for another chaotic session on Monday after many of the world’s major central banks joined in an emergency round of policy easing aimed at cushioning the impact of the coronavirus on economies. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates to a target range of 0% to 0.25% and said it would expand its balance sheet by at least $700 billion in coming weeks. Five other central banks also cut pricing on their swap lines to make it easier to provide dollars to their financial institutions facing stress in credit markets. …read more […]

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(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve swept into action on Sunday in a new bid to save the U.S. economy from the fallout of the coronavirus, cutting its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point to near zero and promising to boost its bond holdings by at least $700 billion.The central bank also announced several other actions, including letting banks borrow from the discount window for as long as 90 days and reducing reserve requirement ratios to zero percent. In addition, the Fed united with five counterparts to ensure dollars are available around the world via swap lines.Fed Chairman Jerome …read more […]

Under Armour is closing all its U.S. retail stores through March 28, and says store employees will still get paid during this time. …read more […]

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – With supermarkets stripped of food and many other essentials, consumer product companies halted factory runs of niche items such as scented bleach in order to speed up production of more basic merchandise that is in high demand. Brick-and-mortar retailers have warned that hoarding toilet paper, cleaning supplies and food staples was fueling shortages. As the fast-spreading coronavirus continues to alarm consumers across Europe and the United States, Trump held a phone call on Sunday with 30 executives from grocery stores including Amazon.com’s Whole Foods, Target Corp , Costco Wholesale Corp and Walmart …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — The dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve slashed U.S. interest rates to zero, in a shock move aimed to cushion the world’s largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus.The Federal Reserve on Sunday cut its benchmark rate by a full percentage point to near zero and will boost its bond holdings by $700 billion. The central bank also announced several other actions, including letting banks borrow from the discount window for as long as 90 days and reducing reserve requirement ratios to zero percent.The New Zealand dollar was lower following that country’s emergency interest-rate cut earlier. Europe …read more […]

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is leading stores to sell out of hand sanitizer, canned food, fresh food, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. …read more […]