Technology stocks lifted US equity markets after another choppy session that included another grim weekly jobless claims report - Dow added +33-points or +0.14%, recovering from a slide of over >200-points earlier in the session. Boeing Co gained +% in the extended session (having ended the regular session down -8%) after the aerospace and defense company said it will resume next week all commercial-airplane production at its Puget Sound, Washington state-area facilities in "a phased approach", a move that will see ~27K employees return to work. The broader S&P500 gained +0.58% . Gilead Sciences Inc surged +16.4% in the extended session following a report on health care media site Stat that one of the company's drugs (Remdesivir) showed promising results in treating COVID-19 patients. This report is being cited as a key reason for an ~700-point jump in Dow futures after the markets’ close. The NASDAQ rallied +1.63%. Netflix Inc (up +2.91%) and Amazon.com Inc (+4.36) each rose more than >2.5% to record levels. Netflix was buoyed by a marked upgrade by analysts at Goldman Sachs. The latest gains left Netflix up +36% year to date and Amazon up +30.3%.

A combination of very weak economic data and disappointing quarterly earnings releases dragged US equity markets lower - Dow down -445-points or -1.86% The broader S&P500 fell -2.20% Energy (down -4.67%), Materials (-4.51%) and Financials (-4.37%) led all eleven primary sectors into the red. Airline stocks were mixed even after the biggest carriers struck an agreement in principle with the federal government on financial assistance aimed at averting layoffs in the hard-hit industry. Delta Air Lines Inc fell -0.8%, while United Airlines Holdings Inc rose +3.1% and American Airlines Group advanced +2.9%. It marked the worst single session performance for both the Dow and S&P500 since 1 April.The NASDAQ dropped -1.44%. President Trump said earlier this morning AEST that he is planning a Thursday (16 April) announcement on guidelines for re=opening parts of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. He said data suggests the U.S. has passed its peak of new cases and such "encouraging developments" allow for finalizing guidelines for states on reopening.

Growing expectations that the worst of COVID-19 pandemic may have passed saw US equity markets book another round of strong gains, with investors also eyeing the start of the first quarter corporate earnings season- Dow up +559-points or +2.39% (to 23,949.76). Boeing Co closed down -4.3% after the company said it delivered fewer commercial airplanes in the first quarter than expected.The broader S&P500 gained +3.06% (to 2,846.06). The latest 3% moves marks the 23rd move of at least 3% in either direction for the index, matching such moves in all of 2009, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500 also booked its 38th session gain of at least 1% this year, surpassing last year’s total. The S&P500 now sits 27.2% above its 23 March low. The index has also capped its best 15-day performance since May 1933. Both the Dow and S&P 500 settled at their highest levels since 10 March. The biggest U.S. airlines reached an agreement in principle with the federal government on financial assistance aimed at preventing layoffs in an industry hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The US$2.2 trillion economic relief package passed last month included US$25B in direct aid to allow passenger airlines to continue paying salaries and benefits to employees in the coming months. Treasury officials are expected to announce an agreement on the terms of the federal aid later this morning AEST. American Airlines Group Inc rose +11.26% in the extended session and Delta Air Lines Inc +9.58%. The NASDAQ rallied +3.95% to settle more than 20% above its most recent low and hence exit the bear market the technology-centric index entered on 12 March. The Nasdaq is less than 14% from its 52- week high on 19 February. Amazon.com Inc jumped +5.28% to settle at a record high of US$2,283.32 (and boosting the company’s market capitalisation to US$1.137 trillion). Tesla Inc jumped +9.05%, adding to a nearly 60% gain in the past seven days as Credit Suisse analysts upgraded the stock to hold from sell and upped their price target to US$580 from US$415.

The Dow and S&P500 retreated in subdued trading as investors’ attention turns to the first quarter corporate earnings season that kicks off this week - Dow down -329-points or -1.39%. Caterpillar Inc fell -8.71% and was the worst performing Dow constituent after a Bank of America analyst cut his rating on the stock to underperform from neutral.The broader S&P500 fell -1.01%, with Real Estate (down -4.59%) and Financials (-3.58%) leading eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. Consumer Discretionary (up +1.10%) was the best performing primary sector. Ford Motor Co fell -3.91% after the auto maker warned of lower sales in the first quarter due to the pandemic. A late rally saw the NASDAQ settle with a +0.47% gain. Netflix Inc jumped +7.01%, recouping all of its COVID-19 induced losses and topping its previous record closing high of US$387.78 set on 18 February. Fellow television streaming company Roku Inc jumped over >10% in extended trading after announcing it added nearly 3M new users in the first three months of the year, more than the 2.56M net additions that analysts expected. The company said that collective streaming hours for the period was 13.2B, up 49% from last year. Amazon.com Inc rallied +6.17% after the e-commerce and cloud giant said it was hiring 75,000 more employees, in addition to the 100,000 it already hired, to help meet increased demand. Apple Inc (up +1.96%) and Google unveiled a rare partnership to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contract with a person with COVID-19. People must opt in to the system known as contact tracing.

US equity markets rallied, lifting the S&P500 into fresh technical bull market territory - Dow up +780-points or +3.44%. Caterpillar Inc rose +4.5% after the company said that it has decided to maintain its quarterly dividend of US$1.03 per share, with the next dividend payable 20 May to shareholders recorded on the register on 20 April. Walt Disney Co said paid subscriptions to its Disney+ streaming service, which launched in November last year, soared past 50M. Disney+ was rolled out in eight Western European countries including the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland in the past two weeks. The broader S&P500 gained +3.41% to 2,749.98, with the latest rally lifting the index more than >20% above its 23 March closing low (2,237.40). Real Estate (up+7.41%), Energy (+6.73%) and Utilities (+5.41%) led all eleven primary sectors higher. General Motors Co rose +8.6% after confirming it had secured an US$489.4M contract to produce 30,000 ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August. Starbucks Corp fell -2.07% in extended trading (having gained +4.16% in the regular session) said that second-quarter earnings will be cut roughly in half from a year ago due to the spread of COVID-19 in China and the US. Starbucks revealed that it expects adjusted earnings of US$0.28c to US$0.32c per share for the second quarter, down from US$60c per share in the second quarter of 2019. The company also rescinded its annual guidance. Costco Wholesale Corp fell -2.28% in extended trading after reporting that its March net sales rose nearly 12% (to US$15.49B from US$13.87B in March 2019), including a 48% jump in online sales. Combined, store sales in the U.S., Canada and other countries where Costco has a presence were up +9.6%. FedEx Corp (up +8.27%) and United Parcel Service Inc (+6.33%)rose after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon.com Inc (+1.56%) was halting its competing Amazon Shipping delivery service. The NASDAQ gained +2.58%. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the presidential race overnight, pushing Joe Biden a step closer to the Democratic nomination. A reminder that US equity and bond markets are closed on Friday night AEST (10 April) for Good Friday.

US equity markets relinquished solid opening gains to settle with modest losses - Dow slipped -26-points or -0.12%, having rallied as much as +937-points or +4.1% earlier in the session. Exxon Mobil Corp (up +1.9%) announced that it was reducing its 2020 capital expenditure by 20% and lowering its cash operating expenses by 30% to combat the effects of lower oil prices. The broader S&P500 dipped -0.16%, unwinding an earlier gain of as much as +3.5%. AT&T Inc (up +2.17%) announced a US$5.5B term-loan agreement to further insulate it from an economic slowdown and that it expects to keep paying its dividend. The NASDAQ settled -0.33% lower after gaining as much as +2.9% at its session peak. The intra-day reversal marked the largest gains handed back in a single session by both the Dow and S&P500 since October 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

US equity markets ripped higher, with the benchmark indices all rallying more than >7% and closing near their session highs amid signs that the coronavirus pandemic is peaking in multiple regions - Dow soared +1,627-points or +7.73%, with Boeing Co (up +19.8%) the leading index performer. Raytheon Technologies Corp (up +15.28%), American Express Co (+13.95%) and Visa Inc (+11.58%) rose more than 11% each JP Morgan Chase & Co rose +6.44% after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders that the bank had sufficient capital to get through even the most adverse scenario, but conceded the bank’s 2020 earnings would be “meaningfully” lower. The broader S&P500 jumped +7.03%, with Information Technology (up +8.78%) leading all eleven primary sectors higher. Seven of the eleven primary S&P500 sectors posted gains of over >7%. . Carnival Corp surged +20.26% after the Saudi Arabia-based sovereign-wealth fund The Public Investment Fund disclosed it had acquired an 8.2% stake in the cruise operator, making it the third biggest shareholder in the company. Kraft Heinz Co rose +2.28% in the extended session after the food company said it expects a +3% rise in first-quarter sales (and an ~6% rise in organic sales) and postponed its upcoming investor day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The S&P 500 has bounced more than >21% from an intraday low (2,191.86) set on 23 March. The NASDAQ +7.26%. The overnight gains marked the biggest one-day percentage gain for all three stock indexes since 24 March, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

US equity markets concluded another volatile week of trading in the red following the release of the official March non-farm payrolls report that ended 113-month consecutive months of employment growth - Dow dropped -361-points or -1.69%. American Express Co (down -3.99%), UnitedHealth (-4.55%) and International Business Machines Corp (IBM) (-3.33%) fell more than >3% each to lead the Dow lower. The broader S&P500 fell -1.51%. Utilities (down -3.62%), Materials (-2.34%), Financials (-2.23%) and Communication Services (-2.20%) all fell over -2% to lead eleven of the twelve primary sectors lower. Consumer Staples (up +0.54%) was the only sector to advance, with Walmart Inc rose +0.70% after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that sales from Walmart’s over 4,700 US stores increased nearly 20% over the past four weeks compared with the same period a year earlier. Sales on Walmart.com rose over >30% over the past eight weeks, with downloads of Walmart's online grocery mobile app skyrocketing, according to documents viewed by the WSJ. United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) fell -8.15% in the extended session (having lost -2.28% in the regular session) after the airline announced an ~80% capacity cut for April and expects even larger cuts in May. UAL said it will evaluate and cancel flights on a rolling 90-day basis until demand recovers. The airline said it is losing more than US$100M a day in revenue and that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be down at least 30% from the year-ago period. UAL has also reportedly filed for a federal grant in order to keep paying employees.Delta Air Lines Inc fell -11.48% in the extended session (having dipped -0.88% in regular trading) after the carrier said its second quarter will be "even more difficult than the first", while Chief Executive Ed Bastian said that the company is “burning more than $60M in cash every day” and “we know we still haven't seen the bottom". Mr Bastian said that Delta’s April schedule will be about 80% smaller than planned, with 115,000 flights cancelled,. Mr Bastian also said that the airline has applied for government support but that the funds alone “are not nearly enough” as revenue is expected to be down 90% for the second quarter. Without action, that government’s relief funds would be gone by June, Mr Bastian said. Separately, Warren Buffett's investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway Inc disclosed on Friday (3 April) that it had sold ~18% of its stake (~13M shares or ~US$314M) in Delta and ~4% of its holding (~2.3m shares or ~US$74M) in Southwest Airlines Co (-3.05%) The NASDAQ -1.53%. The latest data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) late on Friday (3 April) recorded that global chip sales momentum stalled in February due a slowing in demand from China amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While worldwide February sales rose 5% to $34.5B from a year ago, they declined 2.4% from January's sales of $35.4 billion, with sales from China falling 7.5% from January. "Global semiconductor sales in February were solid overall, outpacing sales from last February, but month-to-month demand in the China market slipped significantly and the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global market has yet to be captured in available sales numbers," said John Neuffer, SIA president and chief executive.

US equity markets rallied as a surge in oil prices eclipsed another grim weekly jobless claims report - Dow settled +470-points or +2.24% higher after trading in a greater than >700-point range. Energy giant Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp led the Dow higher, gaining 11% and 7.7%, respectively. The broader S&P500 gained +2.28%, with Energy (up +9.07%) the standout performer and leading all eleven primary sectors higher. The NASDAQ rose +1.65%. Tesla Inc rallied more than >17% in the extended session (after ending the regular trading day down -5.6%) after announcing that it delivered 88,400 vehicles in the first quarter, a performance the company called its “best ever” first quarter and a number only a tad below Wall Street expectations (i.e. 89K). In broader stock moves, Luckin Coffee Inc slumped -75.57% after the Chinese coffee chain said that an internal investigation had shown that its chief operating officer and other employees had fabricated sales transactions.

The Dow and S&P500 logged their worst start to quarter ever as President Trump warned that a “very, very painful” two weeks lie ahead for the country in face of a rapidly spreading COVID-19 epidemic - Dow dropped -973-points or -4.44% (to 20,944) to settle with its worst opening to a quarter in its 124-year history. Boeing Co (down -12.36%), American Express (down -9.08%) and Dow Inc (-7.52%) all fell more than >7.5% The broader S&P500 fell -4.41% to book its worst start to a quarter since the index was created in 1957 . The Utilities (down -6.12%), Real Estate (-6.11%) and Financials (-5.97%) sectors all fell over >5%, leading all eleven primary sectors into the red. A collapse of showroom traffic in March led to a big drop in U.S. sales for major car companies in the first quarter. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (-5.15%) reported a -10% drop in first-quarter U.S. sales, saying strong results in January and February were more than offset by the impact of the virus in March. General Motors Co (down 7.3%) said its U.S. sales were down 7% in the January-to-March period, citing similar reasons, while Nissan Motor Co. reported a -30% drop in the first quarter. Ford Motor Co (-8.9%) is slated to release its first-quarter sales results tonight AEST. Cruise ship operator Carnival Corp rose +2.39% in the extended session (after ending the regular session down -33.18%) after securing a huge rescue financing package a US$4B senior secured bond offering that gives investors an 11.5% coupon, yielding near 12% yield on debt that matures in 2023. The NASDAQ -4.41%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index skidded -7.03% lower. The major indices touched their session lows in the final minutes of the session, with Dow briefly down over >1,100-points.