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US STOCKS-Wall St falls as U.S. crude collapse compounds pandemic woes

Published 21/04/2020, 15:50
© Reuters.
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* Coca-Cola sees big hit from low demand for sodas
* Travelers misses on profit as catastrophe claims jump
* All 11 major S&P 500 sectors trading lower
* Indexes down: Dow 1.86%, S&P 500 2.07%, Nasdaq 2.35%

(Updates to open)
By C Nivedita and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street retreated for a second
straight day on Tuesday as a collapse in U.S. crude prices and
glum annual profit forecasts by companies foreshadowed the
biggest economic slump since the Great Depression due to the
coronavirus outbreak.
Almost all the major S&P 500 sub-sectors fell more than 1%,
with the energy index .SPNY sliding for the seventh time in
eight sessions a day after the WTI contract CLc1 crashed below
zero as oil traders ran out of storage for May deliveries.
With the collapse spilling into June futures contracts,
investors turned fearful about the extent of the economic damage
from sweeping lockdown measures that have halted business
activity and sparked millions of layoffs. O/R
"Yesterday, the historic oil crash had a limited impact on
U.S. stocks, but that won't be the case going forward as the
rolling of contracts won't wait so close to expiry," said Edward
Moya, market analyst at OANDA.
"Oil prices will remain heavy in the short-term and since
many energy stocks have recently rebounded, they are ripe to see
a lot of pain this week."
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX has climbed over 25% from
a March low, powered by trillions of dollars in stimulus, but
still remained nearly 17% below its record high as entire
countries shut down to try to contain the virus.
U.S. jobless claims hit 22 million in the past month as
Corporate America launched dramatic cost-saving measures to ride
out the slump, and readings of U.S. business activity surveys,
due Thursday, are likely to plummet to recession-era lows.
The financials index .SPSY fell 1.9% as the flight from
risk sent investors scurrying to the perceived safety of bonds
and the dollar. US/ FRX/
Meanwhile, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said
Republicans and Democrats had agreed on a fourth coronavirus
spending bill to aid small businesses and the deal would be
passed in the Senate later in the day.
Last week, big U.S. banks kicked off the first-quarter U.S.
corporate earnings season with dismal 2020 forecasts and major
companies have since announced dividend cuts and withdrawn
financial outlooks.
Coca-Cola Co KO.N provided the latest evidence of the
damage wrought by the pandemic, saying its current-quarter
results would take a severe hit from low demand for sodas.
Travelers Companies TRV.N , the first of the big U.S.
insurers to report results, reported a 25% fall in quarterly
profit, hurt by higher catastrophe losses, but its shares rose
2.9%. Among other Dow components, International Business Machines
Corp IBM.N slid 5.2% after the company withdrew its 2020
annual forecast late on Monday. Chip industry bellwether Texas Instruments TXN.O is set to
report its first-quarter earnings later in the day.
At 10:38 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 439.95 points, or 1.86%, at 23,210.49, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 58.43 points, or 2.07%, at 2,764.73 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 200.77 points, or 2.35%, at 8,359.96.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 4-to-1 on
the NYSE and 3-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 20 new lows.

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