U.S. crude prices fell to an 18-year low and Brent lost more than 6% on Wednesday after the United States reported its biggest weekly inventory build on record, while global demand is expected to fall to quarter-century lows due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as dismal economic and first-quarter earnings reports compounded concerns over the extent of damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
(Bloomberg) — U.S. public pensions suffered a double blow from the coronavirus pandemic: losing hundreds of billions of dollars in the equity market rout just as unprecedented revenue losses piled up for the governments that pay into the funds.Funding levels will be under stress because of the losses in the financial markets, and at the same time, governments may struggle to make up the difference as the economic shutdown to stem the outbreak slashes their income.In March, Moody’s Investors Service estimated that public pension investment losses were nearing $1 trillion. During the first quarter, the S&P 500 Index plunged the …read more […]
J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Wednesday it will not make a $12 million interest payment on its long-term corporate bonds, a day after Reuters reported the department store operator was considering filing for bankruptcy protection.
Restaurants, hotels, airlines and anything connected with live entertainment are in coronavirus-induced economic comas. And the oil industry is trying to emerge from a coma of its own making. Russia and Saudi Arabia just ended their oil price war.
In normal times (remember those days?), this would have been big news. High gas prices drive consumers crazy. I don’t know how many times I’ve argued with friends and family that high gas prices are a good thing. It usually means the economy is humming.
And low gas prices usually mean something has gone wrong. The last time I filled up, gas was …read more […]
(Bloomberg) — The clamor for retail investors to get hold of precious-metals coins is about to get more urgent.The U.S. Mint said Wednesday it’s temporally halting production at its West Point facility in New York because of the risk to employees from the coronavirus. The site makes gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins which are sold through a network of distributors.The shutdown comes as convulsive swings in financial markets spur a surge in demand among retail investors for precious metals as haven assets. Last month, the Mint said it sold out of American Eagle silver coins, while the gold coins …read more […]
Best Buy Co Inc said on Wednesday it would furlough about 51,000 hourly U.S. store employees and that its sales dropped about 5% in the first two months of the current quarter, as the electronics retailer kept its stores shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as dismal economic and first-quarter earnings reports compounded concerns over the extent of damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
Lyft Inc on Wednesday said it has launched a new on-demand delivery service to provide essential goods, including groceries, meals and medical supplies, to people in need during the coronavirus crisis.
A federal judge said Tesla Inc must face a lawsuit claiming it misled shareholders when Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted in August 2018 that he was considering taking the electric car company private.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled on Wednesday that shareholders could try to prove Musk’s tweet was the “proximate cause” of volatility in Tesla’s stock price, causing billions of dollars of alleged losses that prompted the lawsuit. It was later established that he had not lined up funding, and Musk backed down from the going-private offer. …read more […]
Some investors are wary about buying into a recent stock market rally. Even with hopes for a quick reopening of the economy, they want more evidence that the United States will not restart, only to have to fall back under another coronavirus lockdown soon.
(Bloomberg) — J.C. Penney Co. is skipping an interest payment, putting the struggling retailer on the path toward a potential default on its debt.The department store chain said it’s not paying $12 million due today on its 6.375% senior notes due 2036. Instead, it’s invoking a 30-day grace period, which keeps the missed payment from becoming a formal event of default, and evaluating strategic alternatives.The company’s management is considering bankruptcy in addition to negotiating with creditors, Reuters reported Tuesday. J.C. Penney tapped the restructuring consulting firm AlixPartners LLP for advice on how to ease its $4 billion debt load amid …read more […]
Federated Hermes Client Portfolio Manager Jordan Stuart joins Yahoo Finance’s Seana Smith to discuss the impact COVID-19 has been having on the economy, as consumer and manufacturing reports for March were worse than expected. …read more […]
The coronavirus pandemic is taking no prisoners, and investors will get another pulse on the deteriorating labor market when the U.S. Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims Thursday morning. …read more […]
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