Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:    

• China’s Second-Quarter Rebound Already Losing Steam, Data Show.  

• Charting the Global Economy: Dire Data Show Extent of Pandemic.    

• World’s Biggest Central Banks Meet as Pressure Mounts to Do More.

• Bond Investors Count on ECB Stepping Up Buying, for Italy’s Sake.

• U.K. Deaths Exceed 20,000; WHO Questions Immunity: Virus Update.  

• Icahn Says Stocks Are Overvalued, Virus May Cause ‘Downdrafts’.  

• Richard Branson Seeking Buyer for Virgin Atlantic: Telegraph.

• Why the World’s Highest Virus Death Rate Is in Europe’s Capital.  

• U.S. Has Gunships Ready to Deliver on Trump’s Warning to Iran.  

• U.S. Reels Toward Meat Shortages and the World May Be Next.

• Trump Team Faces Hurdles Getting Fed to Help Battered Oil Firms.

• The 20 Minutes That Broke the U.S. Oil Market.

• Saudis Begin Curbing Oil Output Ahead of OPEC+ Start Date.

• Zoom’s Good Week Ends on Sour Note After Facebook Crashes Party.  

• The Back-to-Work Math Gets Messy for America’s Newly Unemployed.  

• Your Weekend Reading: Fear of a Second Wave.

Wall Street Journal:

• Lawsuits Pile Up Against Coronavirus Lockdown Measures.

• Millions of Credit-Card Customers Skip Their Payments.

• A Bailout for Illinois? Not Without Strict Conditions.

• Investors Eye Fed Lending Program That Brought Rich Returns in 2009.

• The Scramble for Delivery Robots Is On and Startups Can Barely Keep Up.

• Some Forecasts See Virus Upswing for States That Resisted Shutdown Measures.

• From Brooklyn to Beijing, Portraits of Isolation During the Coronavirus.

CNBC:

• Trump pulls punches and clings to his China trade deal as backlash against Beijing grows.

• More than 5,000 New York pharmacies to give coronavirus tests in bid to screen 40,000 people daily.

• Making sense of a stock market just 16% off its high while a pandemic costs 26 million jobs.

• ‘Scary,’ ‘visceral,’ ‘unprecedented’: Traders describe oil’s wild week and fall to negative prices.

•   Boeing terminates joint venture agreement with Brazil’s Embraer.

• MGM reportedly cuts 7% of staff, United Artists Releasing furloughs one-third of its employees.

• Boeing pushes back target date for fixing 737 Max as coronavirus hinders progress.

• As others cave, several public companies that took small business loans are not giving back the cash.

• China sent team including medical experts to advise on North Korea’s Kim, sources say.

• As working from home becomes more widespread, many say they don’t want to go back.

IG:

• Weekend Markets Trading Live.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Here’s how bad state budget shortfalls could get, as aid battle set to ramp up.

• Only 50% of Americans believe it’s a good time to buy a home, an all-time low, Gallup poll says.  

• ‘Capitalism as we know it will likely be changed forever’ and 9 other lasting implications of coronavirus, according to billionaire Leon Cooperman. 

• Trader who rode oil-price crash to 34% gain warns ‘extreme weakness’ may be in store the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Fox News:

• Liberal network CNN finally covers Larry King clip after development in Biden sexual assault claim.

• Ex-Clinton adviser calls on candidate to bow out over assault allegations.

Zero Hedge:           

• 1993 CNN Clip Unearthed Of Biden Accuser's Mother Telling Larry King Of "Problems" With "Prominent Senator".

• North Korea's Kim Jong Un Reported By Japanese Media To Be In Vegetative State.

• US Banks Are Pulling Back From Lending To European Companies: FT.

• Millions Of Now-Unemployed Americans Are Making More Money Than They Did When Working.

• Global Coronavirus Deaths Top 200k: Live Updates.

• In 2020 Oil-Exporters' Income Will Plunge By Over $1 Trillion, Forcing Widespread Stock Liquidations.

• Hog-Culling Next As Meatpacking Plants Shutter Operations Stoking Food Shortage Fears In Weeks.

• Over 40% Of San Diego Residents Turned To Food Banks Last Month.

• The Coming De-Urbanization Of America.

• "Like A Black Mirror Episode": Company Laid Off 406 People In 2-Minute Zoom Call.

• "They've Got To Feed Their Children" - Cash-Strapped Businesses Reopen In Georgia As 16 States Join Push To End Lockdowns.

• "It's '08 All Over Again" - Carl Icahn Warns Investors "Be Extremely Careful".

• Every Landlord Needs To See This Shocking Chart Before May 1st.

• 1,000 Front-Line Medical Workers Forced Into Isolation Due To Faulty Chinese Masks.  

• Clubbing Under Quarantine: People Are Paying To Log On To Zoom And Attend Virtual Concerts And Raves.

• Violent Food & Fuel Shortage Riots Grip Venezuela Amid COVID-19 Lockdown.

• Reopen The Economy While Protecting Those Truly At Risk... Or Risk Another Great Depression.

• "The Math Is Not Pretty" - COVID Concerns Spark "Existential Threat" For Many Colleges.

• EU Leaders Rewrite Document On Government Coronavirus Disinfo After China's Government Freaks Out.

• Amazon Orders Warehouse Employees Sheltering-At-Home To Return To Work.

• With Kim Jong Un Reportedly On His Death Bed, These Are The Most Likely Heirs To The North Korean Throne.

• Record Collapse In Liqudity Means Something Very Odd Takes Place Every Day At 3:50pm.

• Scared Americans Refuse Return To Work And "Risk Losing Unemployment".

• Italy Stick Saved As S&P Refuses To Downgrade To Junk.

• Gold & Cryptos Surge, Stocks & Oil Purge As Global Economy Crashes.

Business Insider: 

• The 15 coding languages with the highest salaries, and how to learn them online at no cost.

• I had COVID-19 symptoms and recovered, but my antibody test left me with more questions than answers. Here's what the process was like.

• Appointment-only stores, hand sanitizing stations, and robots stocking shelves: Here's how our shopping experience could change in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

• 'It really is crowded; it's too crowded': Locals in small towns like Sedona, Arizona, say hiking trails and campgrounds are full of people who fled big cities to hunker down in their 2nd homes.

• Facebook pops, Zoom drops on Facebook announcing 'Rooms' video-chat competitor.

• 16 states are easing restrictions next week. Here's a breakdown of which stores will be allowed to reopen in each one.

John Hopkins University:

• Coronavirus Global Cases. (map)

BNO News:

• Tracking Coronavirus: Map, data and timeline. 

Google Docs:

• Coronavirus Testing by State.

Weekly Scoreboard*

S&P 500 2,836.74 -1.32%

The Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

 
Indices

• DJIA 23,775.27 -1.93%

• NASDAQ 8,634.52 -.18%

• Russell 2000 1,233.05 +.32%

• S&P 500 High Beta 32.50 -.12%

• Goldman 50 Most Shorted 113.63 +4.81%

• Wilshire 5000 28,507.11 -1.16%

• Russell 1000 Growth 1,693.58 -.68%

• Russell 1000 Value 1,055.16 -1.95%

• S&P 500 Consumer Staples 602.26 -3.19%

• MSCI Cyclicals-Defensives Spread 1,082.62 -.07%
  

• NYSE Technology 2,190.60 -.74%

• Transports 8,092.40 -1.72%

• Utilities 795.09 -3.51%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 44.54 -1.34%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 35.75 -.28%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,137.86 -.47%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 853.94 -.62%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 38749 -.19%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index 0 +110

• Commercial Bullish % Net Position -40.27 -8.22%

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 510,669 +5.32%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 2,353,955 +.50%

• Total Put/Call 1.01 +10.99%

• OEX Put/Call 1.25 +2.15%

• ISE Sentiment 72.0 +3.0

• NYSE Arms 1.0 +45.33%

• Volatility(VIX) 35.93 -5.82%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 72.48 +2.46%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 9.01 +1.12%
  

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 11.98 +5.27%

• Smart Money Flow Index 16,100.99 -2.23%

• ICI Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $4.652 Trillion +2.8%

• ICI Domestic Equity Mutual Fund/ETFs Weekly Flows +$8.846 Million

• AAII % Bulls 24.9 -28.7%

• AAII % Bears 50.0 +17.0%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 112.75 -8.92%

• Crude Oil 17.09 -5.1%

• Reformulated Gasoline 66.70 -7.19%

• Natural Gas 1.73 -1.08%

• Heating Oil 67.91 -31.21%

• Gold 1,740.70 +2.58%

• Bloomberg Base Metals Index 147.19 -1.12%

• Copper 234.60 +.04%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 244.0 USD/Metric Tonne -2.4%

• China Iron Ore Spot 80.89 USD/Metric Tonne -3.22%

• Lumber 322.50 -5.47%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 769.44 -2.39%

Economy

• Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast -.26% unch.

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate -41.9% +.6 percentage points
• Bloomberg US Recession Probability Next 12 Months 100.0% unch.

• Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index -7.16 +9.1%

• US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index 483.69 -10.2%

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 143.99 -1.45%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -101.80 +27.2 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index -219.70 -158.30 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -.2 -1.9 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 100.0% chance of no change, 0.0% chance of rate cut on 4/29

• US Dollar Index 100.38 +.67%

• MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index 1,560.99 -.33%

• Bitcoin/USD 7,516.79 +6.5%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 120.33 -.84%

• Yield Curve 37.25 -6.75 basis points
  

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield .59% -6.0 basis points

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $6.535 Trillion +3.25%

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 22.81 +3.52%

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 510.98 +141.2%
  

• Italian/German 10Y Yld Spread 231.25 +4.75 basis points

• China Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 50.24 +14.2%
  

• Brazil Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 368.50 +26.8%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 75.99 -1.62%

• South Korea Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 38.90 +22.6%

• Russia Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 177.80 +3.9%

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporate High Yield Index 165.15 +3.02%

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.11% +9.0 basis points

• TED Spread 88.50 -14.5 basis points

• 2-Year Swap Spread 16.5 -5.0 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap 21.0 -24.0 basis points

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 93.40 +6.55%
  

• America Energy Sector High-Yield Credit Default Swap Index 883.0 -33.5%

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 108.44 +6.57%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 366.19 +7.13%
  

• Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate CMBS Avg. OAS 1.75 +1.16%
• Markit CMBX BBB-6 67.0 -1.83%

• M1 Money Supply $4.733 Trillion +2.79%

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,068.60 +.90%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 5,786,500 +1,521,000

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 11.0% +280.0 basis points
  

• Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 3.33% +2.0 basis points

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 768,500 -.29%

• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort 41.4 -3.1 points

• Weekly Retail Sales -4.40% -240.0 basis points

• Nationwide Gas $1.79/gallon -.04/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 672.0 -10.52%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 870.33 -1.57%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 110.0 +12.82%

• Rail Freight Carloads 213,685 -.04%

Best Performing Style

• Small-Cap Growth +1.0%

Worst Performing Style

• Large-Cap Value -2.2%

Leading Sectors

• Gold & Silver +12.2%

• Oil Service +7.9%

• Shipping +6.7%

• Social Media +3.1%

• Energy +2.9%

Lagging Sectors

• Utilities -3.6% 

• REITs -4.1%

• Insurance -5.5%

• Airlines -7.4%

• Coal -16.6%

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (16)

• TBIO, INO, W, CVM, OZK, BYND, CATS, ARCT, EBS, BLUE, QDEL, GNMK, COF, CRWD, VIR and KEM

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (9)

• KSS, TAL, TEX, EIG, POR, BCO, PRNB, ARCH and MC

Weekly Charts

ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change