- US stocks finished higher.
- Lowe's and Target reported strong earnings.
- CNN Business created a Coronavirus Markets Dashboard to help you track the stocks, sectors and indicators that are most affected by the pandemic.
Expedia Group posted a $1.3 billion loss, its largest since the financial crisis of 11 years ago, as it also it suspended its dividend.
The company, which handles online travel bookings, said it will not pay a dividend again until the current financial crisis battering the travel industry has passed.
Most of the loss is due to the company writing down its estimated value going forward, a reduction in what is known as "goodwill" in accounting measures. Its adjusted net loss excluding special items came to $258 million.
Revenue at the company fell $400 million, or 15% to $2.2 billion.
Among the brands that Expedia operates are Expedia, Hotels.com, VRBO, Trivago, HomeAway, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, CheapTickets, CarRentals.com and CruiseShipCenters.
US stocks rebounded from the prior session’s losses on Wednesday, finishing the day in the green.
Investors continue to be hopeful about the reopening of the economy.
Green Growth Brands, the Ohio-based cannabis company that operates dispensaries, such as The+Source in Nevada, and manufactures products, such as Seven7h Sense CBD, announced Wednesday it is filing for insolvency protection.
The company filed for insolvency under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada, where its shares are traded. In a statement, the company said the bankruptcy filing was due to a “severe liquidity crisis” that had been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has forced the company to indefinitely suspend its [Seven7h Sense] cannabidiol business, ultimately resulting in the appointment of a receiver for that business and to restrict operations at the company’s The+Source dispensaries in the Las Vegas, Nevada region as a result of Nevada Governor Stephen Sisolak’s March 20, 2020, order limiting dispensary operations in the state,” the company announced.
We're bracing for millions more jobless claims when the Department of Labor reports the latest numbers tomorrow.
Continued jobless claims -- which count people filing for unemployment benefits for at least two weeks in a row -- are expected at 24.8 million. That would be about 2 million more than the week prior.
As the number of first-time claims begins to come down, economists are increasingly paying attention to how many people keep filing claims week after week. That provides a more complete picture of how the labor market is doing.
The economy has gone from President Donald Trump's greatest political asset to perhaps his biggest weakness.
"It would take nothing short of an economic miracle for pocketbooks to favor Trump," Oxford Economics wrote in the report, adding that the economy will be a "nearly insurmountable obstacle for Trump come November."
The model has correctly predicted the popular vote in every election since 1948 other than 1968 and 1976 (although two candidates lost the popular vote but won the presidency in that span, including George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016).
But the way those stores operate is changing.
Customers who visit the reopened stores can use a feature called "Click to Try or Click to Buy" on Nike's app, which allows them to scan a QR code and buy instantly or have their product taken to a dressing room. The company also offers a contactless way for customers to scan their feet to find footwear in their size.
And of course consumers can still order online and receive their products at home.
The company is also seeing increased use of its Nike workout app, O'Neill said.
The US stock market has rebounded from its coronavirus lows. But where does this leave investors?
"We had a relatively V-shaped recovery in the market," said said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management.
She said that the economic recovery won't trace the same shape but will be more drawn out, as economic data such as weekly jobless claims are suggesting we could be past the worst.
At the same time, "we're still really looking at the US equity market as probably the best one in the world," Nixon added. "We think US equities are still an attractive place to be."
For example, America's big tech companies are leading the way out of this downturn, she said.
Even as coronavirus lockdown restrictions are easing across the United States, many people remain in their homes.
As long as the epidemic continues in different pockets of the United States and the rest of the world, it will be hard to have a real economic recovery, said Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs.
The new normal of the economy will be based more on digital and e-commerce, as well as working from home.
On top of that, the country hasn't yet reached the peak of virus-related unemployment. The unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% last month, the highest level on record. But the May number is expected to be even worse. With a rate as that could be as high as 20%, the big question is how long a recovery will really take.
Stocks are rallying today as continued optimism boosts investor sentiments about the reopening of the economy.
As every investor knows by now, the current, second quarter of the year will have some of the worst economic data the United States has ever seen. A lot of that bad news is already priced in. Case in point: the stock market barely reacts to the dire labor market reports, either the weekly jobless claims or monthly jobs reports.
But therein lies a conundrum, said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at the Schwab Center for Financial Research on a media call today.