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5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday
1. Dow set to surge after a coronavirus drug reportedly shows effectivenessU.S. stock futures were pointing to an over 700-point gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at Friday’s open. While off the overnight highs of more than 900 points, the Dow was set to surge on a report that said Gilead Sciences’ drug Remdesivir showed…
1. Dow set to surge after a coronavirus drug reportedly shows effectiveness
U.S. stock futures were pointing to an over 700-point gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at Friday's open. While off the overnight highs of more than 900 points, the Dow was set to surge on a report that said Gilead Sciences‘ drug Remdesivir showed effectiveness in treating Covid-19.
Dow stock Procter & Gamble was higher in the premarket after the consumer products giant said fiscal third-quarter U.S. sales surged 10% as people stocked up on staples like toilet paper ahead of the coronavirus outbreak. Adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share beat estimates. But total revenue of $17.2 billion was short of forecasts.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Apple stock to sell, citing the severity of the pandemic recession. Goldman lowered its price target to $233 per share from $250. Apple closed Thursday at $286 per share, up more than 30% from its March low. Goldman's new price target represents a 19% drop from Thursday's close.
The Dow on Thursday bounced around, closing up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq finished higher by a stronger 1.7%. In fact, the Nasdaq 100, composed of the 100 largest stocks in the index, jumped nearly 2% and erased its 2020 losses.
Recent U.S. economic numbers have been dismal due to the coronavirus crisis. The same is true in China, where the virus originated late last year. China, the world's second largest economy, said its GDP contracted 6.8% in the first quarter after growing 6% in the fourth quarter. Looking at Chinese manufacturing and consumer activity, industrial production dropped 8.4% in the first quarter, including a 1.1% decline in March. Retail sales fell 19% in the first quarter, including a 15.8% drop in March.
2. Promising developments from Gilead and Moderna
Shares of Gilead Sciences, while higher after-hours overnight, were jumping over 10% in Friday's premarket trading after details leaked of a closely watched Remdesivir clinical trial. The University of Chicago's phase 3 drug trial found that most of its Covid-19 patients had “rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms” and were discharged in less than a week, health-care publication STAT News reported. In another promising situation, biotech Moderna announced federal funding up to $483 million to accelerate the development of its coronavirus vaccine. Moderna shares were soaring about 18% in Friday's premarket. If supported by safety data from the phase 1 study, Moderna intends to begin phase 2 in the second quarter.
3. Trump unveils ‘Opening Up America Again' guidelines
President Donald Trump has unveiled broad new federal guidelines that lay out conditions for parts of the U.S. not hit as hard by the coronavirus to start relaxing some of the strict orders aimed at mitigating the spread of the disease. The 18-page plan for “Opening Up America Again” identifies the circumstances necessary for areas of the country to allow employees to start returning to work. While the decision to lift restrictions ultimately rests with state governors, the federal outline nevertheless ramps up pressure on them to loosen their restrictions.
4. East Coast states extend their shutdown orders
New York and other East Coast states are extending their shutdown of nonessential businesses to May 15 as officials grapple with how to reopen parts of the economy without leading to a resurgence in coronavirus cases. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday reported the lowest increase in New York state deaths in six days as the new daily increases in Covid-19 cases nationwide showed signs of slowing.
New York has a third of America's over 671,400 cases and a third of the 33,286 deaths. Globally, coronavirus cases climbed to nearly 2.2 million with 146,071 deaths. On Thursday, the World Health Organization's regional director said that European countries, where total cases neared 1 million, should move with extreme caution when considering easing lockdowns.
5. China's Wuhan raises coronavirus death toll by 50%
People with face masks waiting at Hankou Railway Station on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, China.
Getty Images
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered in December, has upwardly revised its number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths after “a citywide investigation,” state media reported. The Wuhan government said total confirmed infections have been revised to 50,333 as of Thursday, an increase of 325 cases, while the cumulative number of deaths shot up 50% to 3,869. That brings China's total cases to over 83,700 and 4,636 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data on Friday morning. Wuhan officials provided four explanations for the discrepancy, including incomplete registration of deaths and delayed reporting by medical institutions.
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