US STOCKS-Wall Street drops as U.S. producers can't give crude away

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* U.S. crude front-month drops to record low -$37.63 a
barrel
* Netflix rallies ahead of quarterly report on Tuesday
* Indexes: Dow -2.22%, S&P 500 -1.61%, Nasdaq -0.75%

(Updates with afternoon trade)
By Noel Randewich
April 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street fell sharply on Monday
after U.S. crude futures turned negative for the first time in
history, underscoring the chaos the coronavirus pandemic has
unleashed on the global economy.
The S&P energy index .SPNY tumbled 4% after the
front-month May U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract
CLc1 turned negative - unprecedented in history - with sellers
offering buyers $37.63 a barrel. O/R
With much of the global economy suspended due to the
coronavirus, physical demand for crude has dried up, creating a
global supply glut as billions of people stay home. “What the energy market is telling you is that demand isn't
coming back anytime soon, and there's a supply glut," said Kevin
Flanagan, head of fixed income strategy at WisdomTree Asset
Management in New York. "This price decline can be good if it
means more people going to the pump, but that requires people
getting out.”
Weathering the broad market sell-off, Amazon AMZN.O rose
1.6% and Netflix NFLX.O jumped 4%. Both of those companies
have benefited from additional demand as millions of people stay
home due to the coronavirus. Netflix reports its quarterly
results on Tuesday after the bell.
Helped by a $2 trillion U.S. government package to stimulate
the economy, and by bets that the virus was nearing a peak in
the United States, the S&P 500 has climbed over 25% from its
March low.
The benchmark index remains 15% below its February record
high, and analysts have warned of a deep economic slump from the
halt in business activity and millions of layoffs.
U.S. jobless claims touched 22 million in the four weeks to
April 11, and analysts have forecast as many as 5 million more
in the latest week. A reading of an April U.S. manufacturing
survey, also due Thursday, is expected to slide to recession-era
levels.
At 2:57 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 2.22% at 23,704.26 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost
1.61% to 2,828.14.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.75% to 8,585.27.
International Business Machines Corp IBM.N rose 0.7% ahead
of its quarterly report, expected after markets close.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
3.01-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.63-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 38 new highs and 12 new lows.