Nvidia, AMD and Apple fall premarket; Intel rises
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* Data shows employers cut 701,000 jobs last month
* Disney down 3.5% after saying it will furlough some
employees
* Morgan Stanley expects U.S. real GDP to plunge 38% in Q2
* Raytheon biggest pct loser on the Dow
* Indexes down: Dow 1.64%, S&P 1.50%, Nasdaq 1.36%
(Updates to late morning)
By Uday Sampath Kumar and Medha Singh
April 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on
Friday as the longest period of employment growth on record in
the United States came to an abrupt end, with data showing that
hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs last month due
to the coronavirus.
The Labor Department's report confirmed that a recession was
underway as business activity came to a standstill, but
investors fear it did not reflect the full extent of the
economic pain as the survey considered data until mid-March.
With the S&P 500 down about 25% from its mid-February record
highs, or nearly $7 trillion in market value, analysts said the
magnitude of the decline in payrolls had been priced in to a
large degree.
"The market already knew that job losses recently have been
historic and tremendous," said Russell Price, chief economist at
Ameriprise Financial Services Inc in Troy, Michigan.
"We are coming to terms with just how significant this is
going to be. The data will be very bad before it gets much worse
in April and May, before we start seeing improvements."
The worldwide spread of the virus has forced billions of
people to stay indoors and pushed entire sectors to the brink of
collapse, leading to mass layoffs and dramatic steps by
companies to raise cash.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N said on Thursday it would furlough
some U.S. employees this month, while sources said luxury
retailer Neiman Marcus was stepping up preparations to seek
bankruptcy protection. Disney's shares fell 3.5%, while Under Armour UAA.N shed
3% after saying it would temporarily lay off employees at its
U.S. stores.
Economists have cut their forecasts for U.S. GDP, with
Morgan Stanley now predicting a 38% contraction in the second
quarter. Analysts also expect company profits to fall as earnings
season begin, but said actual numbers from the quarter will
likely be given little importance.
"There's really very little that you can take away from
(earnings) other than some insights to actually how are these
businesses set up to weather the pandemic and where will they be
once it begins to show signs of passing," Robert Pavlik, chief
investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
At 11:32 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 350.97 points, or 1.64%, at 21,062.47, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 38.02 points, or 1.50%, at 2,488.88 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 101.57 points, or 1.36%, at 7,385.74.
Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX.N , formed by the merger of
United Technologies and Raytheon Co, shed 6.5% as it pulled 2020
outlook for its aerospace units.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 8% after the electric-car maker
said production and deliveries of its Model Y sport utility
vehicle were ahead of schedule, as it delivered the highest
number of vehicles in any first quarter to date. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 4.15-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and a 2.83-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and eight new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded three new highs and 99 new lows.