Dow futures fall more than 200 points after market posts worst first quarter on record - CNBC

U.S. stock futures moved lower in overnight trading and pointed to declines at the open on Wednesday, following the end of the worst first quarter on record for the Dow and S&P 500 spurred by the coronavirus sell-off.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell more than 1.2%, indicating a loss of about 220 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also set to open lower, with losses of 25 points and 55 points, respectively.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening the U.S. should prepare for a "very, very painful two weeks" from the rampant coronavirus. 

"This is going to be a rough two-week period," Trump said at a White House press conference. "When you look at night the kind of death that has been caused by this invisible enemy, it's incredible."

On Tuesday, the Dow fell 410 points or 1.8% to 21,917.16, weighed down by American Express, which dropped more than 5%. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% to 2,584.59 and Nasdaq Composite dropped nearly 1% to 7,700.10. At its session high, the Dow was up more than 150 points. 

The Dow secured its worst first-quarter performance ever, losing more than 23% of its value in the first three months of 2020. The 30-stock benchmark had its worst quarter since 1987. The S&P 500 fell 20% in the first quarter, its worst first quarter ever and its biggest quarterly loss since 2008. The Nasdaq fell more than 14% in the first quarter. 

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said that the coronavirus driven market rout will worsen again in April, taking out the March low. 

"The low we hit in the middle of March … I would bet that low will get taken out," Gundlach said in an investor webcast on Tuesday. "The market has really made it back to a resistance zone. ... Take out the low of march and then we'll get a more enduring low."

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a nationwide shutdown of the economy, halting business production and leaving millions of American workers unemployed. The unprecedented societal disruption has caused financial distress and volatility never seen before, ultimately causing the wort first quarter in history for both the Dow and the S&P 500. 

"The quarter will be remembered as the fastest and greatest drop in the stock Market for the start of any post-war bear market," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group. "This reflects the fact that this Bear is the only one cause by a recession which was simply 'proclaimed' as leaders announced they were essential shutting down the economy. Since a recession was ensured, the Bear skipped all its normal foreplay and simply went right to the end fully reflecting a recession almost immediately." 

U.S. oil experienced its worst month and quarter in history, losing more than 66% of its value in the first three months of the year. Demand has evaporated due to the coronavirus outbreak and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that he is starting to see "glimmers" that social distancing is helping to lessen the spread of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, U.S. cases of the fast-spreading virus have topped 177,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death roll from the virus in America has surpassed 3,400. 

Wall Street also posted sharp losses for the month. The Dow and S&P 500 fell 13.7% and 12.5%, respectively, in March for their worst one-month declines since the 2008 financial crisis. 

However, stocks have managed to rally towards the end of month. Investors are hoping the market has bottomed, with many strategists expecting a "V" shaped recovery, a sharp drop in GDP in the second quarter and a swift snapback in the third quarter. The so-called bond king Gundlach called those estimates "highly, highly optimistic." 

On Wednesday, private payroll data is expected to show an evaporation in job creation. Moody's ADP Employment data for March will be released, with economists expecting a fall of 125,000 jobs, compared to April's addition of 183,000 non-government jobs. Markit Manufacturing PMI and ISM manufacturing index for March will also be released on Wednesday. 

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.

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2020-03-31 22:43:10Z
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Dow is on track for its worst quarterly performance since 1987 — here’s how the stock market tends to perform after damaging quarters - MarketWatch

How bad has it been for the U.S. stock market in the first three months of 2020?

In a word, historic, but returns are almost certain to improve over the longer term despite the current pain, if history is any guide.

Indeed, it has been punishing for investors, as the market went into a coronavirus-sparked free fall that has the 124-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average registering its worst quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 1987. The three-month skid represented the steepest first-quarter drop, from January through the end of March, in the index’s history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The dizzying equity meltdown has amounted to a more than 23.2% quarterly skid for the Dow industrials DJIA, -1.83%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.60% has declined more than 20% over the period, which marks the broad-market index’s sharpest such decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

Check out the table below, as of late morning on Tuesday:

Index	Quarterly % change	Best/worst since
Dow	-23.2%	Q4 1987
S&P 500	-20%	Q4 2008
Nasdaq Composite Index	-14.18%	Q4 2018
		Source: Dow Jones Market Data

On top of that, this would be the first time in well over a decade that the S&P benchmark has ended each of the first three months of a calendar year in negative territory, as it did in January, off 0.2%; February, falling 8.41%; and March, where it’s on pace to suffer a loss of at least 13.74%.

The S&P 500 hasn’t been down in those three months successively since 2008, and a January-to-March stretch of losses has only occurred seven other times in the history of the 63-year-old stock index.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.95% has declined more than 14%, which represents the worst quarterly decline since the last three months of 2018 for the technology-heavy benchmark.

The market’s bearish downtrend, despite glimmers of hope for the S&P 500 and Dow over the past several sessions, is underpinned by the spread of the COVID-19, the most severe pandemic in generations.

See:Stock market won’t hit coronavirus lows until these 3 criteria are met, says Goldman Sachs

The disease, which has infected more than 800,000 people and claimed nearly 40,000 lives globally, was first identified in December in Wuhan, China, and has caused the forced shutdown of business and personal activity, intended to limit the spread of the deadly pathogen. The halt in activity is delivering a gut punch to economies across the world, and elicited concerns about a global recession, which in turn has compelled investors to reprice assets considered risky.

Read:5 reasons the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. could be worse than in Italy

All that said, the prospects over the longer term after such declines leaves cause for hope.

After the Dow has produced a quarter as ugly as this one, the blue-chip index returns 11.88% and 8.49% in the following two quarters, according to Dow Jones Market Data. In such a year, the Dow returns 22.75% on average. There are similar positive trends for the other two main benchmarks.

Here’s how the stock benchmarks perform after a quarter as bad as the one Wall Street is experiencing now:

Index	1 quarter % change	2-quarter period % change	1-year out % change
Dow	11.88%	8.49%	22.75%
S&P 500	12%	15.38%	27.79%
Nasdaq	3.79%	5.57%	9.54%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Here’s how the indexes fare after a month as bad as the one in March, on average, with the Dow down 12.5% in March so far, the S&P 500 off more than 11% and the Nasdaq down 9.5%, representing the worst monthly drops for the benchmarks since 2008:

Index	1-month	2-month	1-year
DJIA	0.05%	1.77%	5.69%
S&P 500	-0.15%	2.14%	8.72%
Nasdaq	-0.47%	2.53%	8.35%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Check out:Man who called Dow 20,000 at end of 2015 says these are the 4 steps needed for a bona fide stock-market recovery

Read: Man who scored big wins during the 2008 financial crisis says the stock market could be ‘near a bottom’ if U.S. gets a coronavirus recovery plan

Mike DeStefano contributed to this report.

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2020-03-31 20:19:28Z
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Dow is on track for its worst quarterly performance since 1987 — here’s how the stock market tends to perform after damaging quarters - MarketWatch

How bad has it been for the U.S. stock market in the first three months of 2020?

In a word, historic, but returns are almost certain to improve over the longer term despite the current pain, if history is any guide.

Indeed, it has been punishing for investors, as the market went into a coronavirus-sparked free fall that has the 124-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average registering its worst quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 1987. The three-month skid represented the steepest first-quarter drop, from January through the end of March, in the index’s history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The dizzying equity meltdown has amounted to a more than 23.2% quarterly skid for the Dow industrials DJIA, -1.83%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.60% has declined more than 20% over the period, which marks the broad-market index’s sharpest such decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

Check out the table below, as of late morning on Tuesday:

Index	Quarterly % change	Best/worst since
Dow	-23.2%	Q4 1987
S&P 500	-20%	Q4 2008
Nasdaq Composite Index	-14.18%	Q4 2018
		Source: Dow Jones Market Data

On top of that, this would be the first time in well over a decade that the S&P benchmark has ended each of the first three months of a calendar year in negative territory, as it did in January, off 0.2%; February, falling 8.41%; and March, where it’s on pace to suffer a loss of at least 13.74%.

The S&P 500 hasn’t been down in those three months successively since 2008, and a January-to-March stretch of losses has only occurred seven other times in the history of the 63-year-old stock index.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.95% has declined more than 14%, which represents the worst quarterly decline since the last three months of 2018 for the technology-heavy benchmark.

The market’s bearish downtrend, despite glimmers of hope for the S&P 500 and Dow over the past several sessions, is underpinned by the spread of the COVID-19, the most severe pandemic in generations.

See:Stock market won’t hit coronavirus lows until these 3 criteria are met, says Goldman Sachs

The disease, which has infected more than 800,000 people and claimed nearly 40,000 lives globally, was first identified in December in Wuhan, China, and has caused the forced shutdown of business and personal activity, intended to limit the spread of the deadly pathogen. The halt in activity is delivering a gut punch to economies across the world, and elicited concerns about a global recession, which in turn has compelled investors to reprice assets considered risky.

Read:5 reasons the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. could be worse than in Italy

All that said, the prospects over the longer term after such declines leaves cause for hope.

After the Dow has produced a quarter as ugly as this one, the blue-chip index returns 11.88% and 8.49% in the following two quarters, according to Dow Jones Market Data. In such a year, the Dow returns 22.75% on average. There are similar positive trends for the other two main benchmarks.

Here’s how the stock benchmarks perform after a quarter as bad as the one Wall Street is experiencing now:

Index	1 quarter % change	2-quarter period % change	1-year out % change
Dow	11.88%	8.49%	22.75%
S&P 500	12%	15.38%	27.79%
Nasdaq	3.79%	5.57%	9.54%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Here’s how the indexes fare after a month as bad as the one in March, on average, with the Dow down 12.5% in March so far, the S&P 500 off more than 11% and the Nasdaq down 9.5%, representing the worst monthly drops for the benchmarks since 2008:

Index	1-month	2-month	1-year
DJIA	0.05%	1.77%	5.69%
S&P 500	-0.15%	2.14%	8.72%
Nasdaq	-0.47%	2.53%	8.35%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Check out:Man who called Dow 20,000 at end of 2015 says these are the 4 steps needed for a bona fide stock-market recovery

Read: Man who scored big wins during the 2008 financial crisis says the stock market could be ‘near a bottom’ if U.S. gets a coronavirus recovery plan

Mike DeStefano contributed to this report.

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2020-03-31 19:52:55Z
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Crude-oil prices post the largest quarterly percentage drop on record - MarketWatch

U.S. oil futures settled slightly higher on Tuesday, finding some support after China reported strong manufacturing data and President Donald Trump spoke with Russia about efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and stabilize the crude market.

But oil prices for the U.S. and global crude benchmarks suffered the largest quarterly percentage declines on record and lost more than half their value for the month amid a demand slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a glut of supply thanks to a Russia-Saudi oil-price war. Prices had settled Monday at their lowest level since 2002.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 52.0 in March from a record low of 35.7 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

The data is “raising hopes that the world will start to recover from this deadly virus,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group. “This, along with talk of more stimulus and some pressure from the Trump administration on Russia, is giving oil producers some hope of a price bottom.”

Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about the latest developments and efforts to combat the coronavirus, according to a statement from The White House. They both agreed on the importance of stability in the global energy markets and to work together through the G-20 to defeat the virus.

Still, demand for oil “better improve because global storage could be full by May if things don’t change,” said Flynn, in a daily note.

Read:The world is running out of tanks to store oil as coronavirus and price war lead to flood of crude

May West Texas Intermediate crude CLK20, +1.79% tacked on 39 cents, or 1.9%, to settle at $20.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Prices based on front-month WTI crude fell by 54.2% this month, the largest one-month decline since October 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data. For the quarter, prices lost 66.5% to post the largest quarter percentage loss based on records dating back to March 1983.

Meanwhile, the global benchmark on ICE Futures Europe, May Brent crude BRNK20, -0.22% fell 2 cents, or 0.09%, at $22.74 a barrel on the contract’s expiration day. For the month, prices fell 55%, tallying a loss of 65.6% for the quarter—the largest quarterly decline based on records dating to June 1988.

The new front month June Brent BRNM20, -1.17% shed 7 cents, or 0.3%, to $26.35 for Tuesday’s session.

On Monday, WTI marked its lowest finish since February 2002, while Brent saw its lowest settlement since November of that year.

The slight rebound Tuesday came even as U.S. benchmark stock indexes moved lower. Wall Street equities had seen an upbeat session on Monday, driven by health-care stocks and hopes for a vaccine.

“A joint action from oil producer countries to lower production could encourage a certain recovery in oil prices,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, in a note to clients. “But any supply-side intervention should be sizable to match the historical decline in demand.”

Read: This crushing double blow for the oil sector could force a wave of consolidation, say analysts

In a note dated Monday, IHS Markit said the “pandemic has led to massive lockdowns in most countries, meaning that the outlook for demand has taken a profound downward turn.” It estimates that “demand destruction could be as high as 20 million barrels per day, depending on the duration and depth of the pandemic.”

Back on Nymex, April gasoline RBJ20, -5.77% fell 2.1% to 57.32 a gallon, losing 59% for the month, while April heating oil HOJ20, -1.91% ended at $1.0121 a gallon, down 0.7% for the day to suffer a decline of 32.1% for the month. The April contracts expired at the end of the day’s session.

May natural gas NGK20, -2.24% settled at $1.64 per million British thermal units, down 3% for the session to lose 2.6% for the month. Prices dropped about 25% for the quarter after touching their lowest level in 25 years last week.

Weekly data on U.S. petroleum supplies will be released by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, with official government data from the Energy Information Administration released Wednesday.

On average, the EIA is expected to report that domestic crude stockpiles rose 4.6 million barrels for the week ended March 27, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. The survey also forecast an increase of 3.6 million barrels for gasoline inventories, but distillate supplies are forecast to fall by 600,000 barrels.

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2020-03-31 19:39:50Z
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Dow is on track for its worst quarterly performance since 1987 — here’s how the stock market tends to perform after damaging quarters - MarketWatch

How bad has it been for the U.S. stock market in the first three months of 2020?

In a word, historic, but returns are almost certain to improve over the longer term despite the current pain, if history is any guide.

Indeed, it has been punishing for investors, as the market went into a coronavirus-sparked free fall that so far has the 124-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average on pace to register its worst quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 1987. The three-month skid also would represent the steepest first-quarter drop, from January through the end of March, in the index’s history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The dizzying equity meltdown has amounted to a more than 21% quarterly skid thus far for the Dow industrials DJIA, -0.77%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.83% has declined more than 18% over the quarter, which would mark the broad-market index’s sharpest such decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

Check out the table below, as of late morning on Tuesday:

Index	Quarterly % change	Best/worst since
Dow	-21.5%	Q4 1987
S&P 500	-18.4%	Q4 2008
Nasdaq Composite Index	-12.6%	Q4 2018
		Source: Dow Jones Market Data

On top of that, this would be the first time in well over a decade that the S&P benchmark has ended each of the first three months of a calendar year in negative territory, as it did in January, off 0.2%; February, falling 8.41%; and March, where it’s on pace to suffer a loss of at least 10%.

The S&P 500 hasn’t been down in those three months successively since 2008, and a January-to-March stretch of losses has only occurred seven other times in the history of the 63-year-old stock index.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.33% has declined more than 12.5%, which would represent the worst quarterly decline since the last three months of 2018 for the technology-heavy benchmark.

The market’s bearish downtrend, despite glimmers of hope for the S&P 500 and Dow over the past several sessions, is underpinned by the spread of the COVID-19, the most severe pandemic in generations.

See:Stock market won’t hit coronavirus lows until these 3 criteria are met, says Goldman Sachs

The disease, which has infected more than 800,000 people and claimed nearly 40,000 lives globally, was first identified in December in Wuhan, China, and has caused the forced shutdown of business and personal activity, intended to limit the spread of the deadly pathogen. The halt in activity is delivering a gut punch to economies across the world, and elicited concerns about a global recession, which in turn has compelled investors to reprice assets considered risky.

Read:5 reasons the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. could be worse than in Italy

All that said, the prospects over the longer term after such declines leaves cause for hope.

After the Dow has produced a quarter as ugly as this one, the blue-chip index returns 11.88% and 8.49% in the following two quarters, according to Dow Jones Market Data. In such a year, the Dow returns 22.75% on average. There are similar positive trends for the other two main benchmarks.

Here’s how the stock benchmarks perform after a quarter as bad as the one Wall Street is experiencing now:

Index	1 quarter % change	2-quarter period % change	1-year out % change
Dow	11.88%	8.49%	22.75%
S&P 500	12%	15.38%	27.79%
Nasdaq	3.79%	5.57%	9.54%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Here’s how the indexes fare after a month as bad as the one in March, on average, with the Dow down 12.5% in March so far, the S&P 500 off more than 11% and the Nasdaq down 9.5%, representing the worst monthly drops for the benchmarks since 2008:

Index	1-month	2-month	1-year
DJIA	0.05%	1.77%	5.69%
S&P 500	-0.15%	2.14%	8.72%
Nasdaq	-0.47%	2.53%	8.35%
			Source: Dow Jones Market Data

Check out:Man who called Dow 20,000 at end of 2015 says these are the 4 steps needed for a bona fide stock-market recovery

Read: Man who scored big wins during the 2008 financial crisis says the stock market could be ‘near a bottom’ if U.S. gets a coronavirus recovery plan

Mike DeStefano contributed to this report.

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2020-03-31 18:27:43Z
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Dow Jones Up 23% From March 23 Low, Edges Toward This Key Technical Level Even As Coronavirus Cases Spike; 3 Growth Stocks Give A Bullish Signal - Investor's Business Daily

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1. Dow Jones Up 23% From March 23 Low, Edges Toward This Key Technical Level Even As Coronavirus Cases Spike; 3 Growth Stocks Give A Bullish Signal  Investor's Business Daily
2. Live Market Watch: Dow reacts to US coronavirus efforts | 3/27/2020  Fox Business
3. Stocks could get a buying boost on Tuesday from a Wall Street technical phenomenon  CNBC
4. S&P 500 set for worst first quarter since 1938  Reuters
5. Wall Street opens lower on final day of torrid quarter  Yahoo Finance
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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2020-03-31 17:14:55Z
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Organizer of Amazon warehouse walkout fired, Whole Foods sickout strike begins - USA TODAY

Mike Snider USA TODAY

Published 12:20 PM EDT Mar 31, 2020

Employees at Whole Foods Market nationwide planned a work stoppage Tuesday, while a former employee at parent company Amazon considered legal action after his dismissal for participation in a labor walkout Monday.

Workers for the supermarket chain, acquired by Amazon in June 2017 for $13.7 billion, are demanding improved workplace safety and benefits including hazard pay and sick pay for employees who may be sick but haven't been tested for the coronavirus.

Whole Foods workers had originally scheduled May 1, International Workers' Day, as the date to stage a sickout, in which they call in to say the won't come to work that day. But concerns about contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus between co-workers and customers led them to move up the daylong strike.

Economic resurgence: How quickly can the economy bounce back from the coronavirus?

Taco Tuesday: Taco Bell giving away free tacos Tuesday as part of its coronavirus response

Supermarkets and grocery stores have remained essential businesses while many other businesses have been shut down across the nation as part of "stay at home" measures ordered by governors and social distancing guidelines, extended through April by President Donald Trump.

"Many cities and states have effectively shut down, making us literal emergency workers," the group said in a statement. "The level of risk combined with the inflated profits from the past few weeks mean that us grocery sore workers need to be fairly compensated, as well as given an option to self-quarantine without fear of being evicted."

Workers who planned to participate in the work stoppage talked to USA TODAY but asked that their names not be used because they feared the would be fired.

After the protest Monday at an Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, worker Christian Smalls, who had organized the protest, was fired for violating "multiple safety issues," the company said in a statement to USA TODAY. The company said it instructed Smalls to stay home with pay for 14 days due to being in close contact with an infected employee, but Smalls went to the warehouse Monday.

Workers had demanded the building be sanitized after several workers tested positive for the virus, Smalls told USA TODAY.   

On his Twitter feed, Smalls said he had been working the previous week and was sent home Saturday, however other employees who were in direct contact with an employee who tested positive were not.

Smalls is reportedly considering legal action against Amazon. “It’s a no-brainer. Anyone can see this is a direct target,” he told the news site Vice. “It’s not gonna stop me,” Smalls said. “I’m gonna continue to fight.”

Subsequently, Smalls confirmed those plans to USA TODAY.

Also considering legal options on behalf of Smalls is New York Attorney General Letitia James, who tweeted Monday night: "In the midst of a pandemic, Chris Smalls & his colleagues bravely protested the lack of precautions that @amzaon employed to protect them from #COVID19. Then he was fired. I'm considering all legal options & calling on the NLRG (National Labor Relations Board) to investigate."

Meanwhile, Whole Foods workers say they want improved sanitation and physical distancing between workers and between workers and customers at stores. They are also seeking double-time wages for hazard pay and three weeks of sick pay for workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work.

The supermarket chain has had several employees test positive for COVID-19 in its stores across the U.S. and Canada, according to various news reports. Whole Foods has 500 stores in North America.

The company recently increased hourly pay for full-time and part-time workers by $2 through April. They also get double pay for any overtime hour worked through May 3. All employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or quarantined get up to an additional two weeks of paid time off.

"As we address unprecedented demand and fulfill a critical need in our communities, Whole Foods Market is committed to prioritizing our Team Members’ well-being, while recognizing their extraordinary dedication," Whole Foods said in a statement to USA TODAY.

But those measures fall short, say the workers organizing Tuesday's protest. "It is important to note that these demands are only a starting point for these companies to do what is right. These are only our IMMEDIATE demands related to the Covid-19 outbreak," the workers' statement said.

"We want gainsharing/profitsharing back. We want medical insurance back for part time workers. We want sick pay in general (we have none)," the workers say. "We want raises and compensation more in line with how important what we do is for the continued function of society."

Support and interest in the Tuesday work stoppage was significant on Twitter, with many attempting to put the protest in context. One apparent Whole Foods worker tweeted being torn between showing solidarity and knowing "none of my immigrant brothers and sisters are" participating over fear and "will be stuck with all the work." 

Another compared grocery store workers to health care providers who "are not getting any hazard pay and have a higher risk of getting #Covid19."

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

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2020-03-31 15:52:19Z
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Gas prices fall below $2 a gallon on average in the United States - CNN

The plunge can be attributed to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has wiped out demand as people are increasingly told to shelter at home. The ongoing oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has exacerbated that decline.

Not even two weeks ago, the price of a gallon of gas was $2.19, but could be purchased for $2 or less in about a dozen of states. Today, drivers can find a gallon of gas for $1.99 or less at roughly 70% of US gas stations, AAA said.

"This is unprecedented," Tom Kloza, head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, told CNN Business at the time.

AAA said in a press release Tuesday that it expects gas prices to fall to $1.75 or less in April. Kloza, however, predicts they will continue to drop beyond that, to between $1.25 to $1.50 per gallon in the next few months.

Oil prices have been declining steadily this year. US crude plunged nearly 7% and finished at an 18-year low of $20.09 a barrel Monday as the coronavirus continues to deal a devastating blow to energy demand. At session lows, oil touched $19.27 a barrel -- the weakest intraday price since February 2002.

Brent crude, the world's benchmark, tumbled as much as 13% and fell to as low as $21.65 a barrel, its lowest point in 18 years. Brent settled at $22.76 a barrel, the lowest close since November 2002.

Oil prices slightly rebounded Tuesday.

--CNN Business' Matt Egan contributed to this report.

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2020-03-31 15:33:56Z
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Walkouts at Amazon and Whole Foods Over Coronavirus: Live Updates - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

• An Amazon warehouse worker on Staten Island was fired after leading a walkout.
• The Empire State Building, honoring emergency workers, alarms some New Yorkers.
• The Central Park field hospital opens today.
• Alone, 105, and in a nursing home threatened by the virus.
• The Empire State of Mind is anxious, depressed and disconnected.

Christian Smalls, a worker at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, was fired after demonstrating on Monday to demand better health protection.Credit...Jeenah Moon/Reuters

An Amazon warehouse worker on Staten Island was fired after leading a walkout.

A group of workers walked off the job at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on Monday, and a sickout called by Whole Foods Market workers is set for today, as front line workers protest what they see as inadequate safety measures and insufficient pay for the risks they confront.

Amazon fired one of the workers who led the Staten Island walkout.

The spread of the coronavirus is highlighting the economic inequality that is a fact of American life. While white collar workers have begun answering emails and crafting PowerPoint slides from home, service workers and laborers — at least those who have not lost their jobs — have continued to report to work, putting themselves and their families in the path of the virus.

“There’s absolutely racial and class inequities baked into this crisis,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a radio interview on Tuesday about the protests. “If you are able to stay home, you are a privileged person in this moment and in this crisis.”

The Staten Island worker who was fired, Christian Smalls, said he had advised a colleague who was visibly ill to go home last week. She later tested positive for the virus.

Mr. Smalls said he had told management that the center should close for two weeks because there was no way to know how many other workers had been infected.

“She had been there the previous week,” Mr. Smalls said of his colleague, adding that other workers at the facility were complaining of symptoms like fever. “We don’t know how long she’s been positive.”

Not long after the protest, an Amazon spokeswoman said by email that Mr. Smalls had been fired because he had violated social-distancing guidelines and had come to the site Monday after having been told to stay home, “further putting the teams at risk.”

New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, called the firing “disgraceful” on Twitter and said she would ask the National Labor Relations Board to investigate.

Workers at Whole Foods have called for a sickout on Tuesday to demand paid leave for all workers who must isolate themselves and a doubling of pay to compensate for the risk of working.

The Empire State Building, honoring emergency workers, alarms some New Yorkers.

The tower lights of the Empire State Building blared red with a whirling red-and-white beacon on Monday night to pay respect to health care workers, police officers and firefighters who have confronted the spread of the coronavirus.

“Starting tonight through the Covid-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight,” the building’s Twitter account said.

Some New Yorkers appreciated the tribute, but others found it less than comforting.

“The intention is great, but the effect is terrifying,” said one response to the tweet. “TURN IT OFF. TURN IT OFF,” said another.

Many who said that they lived close to the building expressed alarm at the signal. Others made memes.

In an unintentional nod at the city’s anxious mood, the tower also broadcast “Empire State of Mind,” the anthem by Alicia Keys.

The Central Park field hospital opens today.

Central Park, one of the world’s most well-known gathering places, will open its East Meadow to hospital patients today as the city continues to transform itself in extraordinary ways in the battle against the coronavirus.

A field hospital with 68 beds has been erected under tents on the meadow to treat coronavirus patients from Mount Sinai Health System’s hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens. It was put up by a nonprofit called Samaritan’s Purse, working with the city.

The move to leverage the park’s vast open space comes one day after a naval hospital ship docked on Manhattan’s West Side and an emergency 1,000-bed hospital at the Javits convention center opened its doors. Both of those are treating patients who are not infected with the coronavirus, to help free up beds in conventional hospitals for more virus patients.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on MSNBC on Monday. “It feels like the kind of thing you experience in wartime.”

Alone, 105, and in a nursing home threatened by the virus.

For five years, twin sisters have visited their 105-year-old mother every night in her nursing home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, bringing dinner, feeding her, overseeing her medications.

But two weeks ago, nursing homes barred visitors. Now the sisters have no idea what condition their mother is in or whether anyone is taking care of her.

Grace Marie Baker, 105, was regularly fed by her daughters. They haven’t seen her for two weeks.Credit...Al Bass

“We don’t know how she’s going to survive this,” said Gerry Baker, one of the sisters. “When we couldn’t see her, it felt as if my mom had transitioned and we were waiting to have the funeral.”

New York’s nursing homes have long been chronically understaffed, leaving family members to fill critical gaps, from feeding loved ones to checking for bedsores or infection. Now those family members are locked out, and existing workers are getting sick, quarantined or quitting because the work has become too dangerous.

At the same time, some nursing homes say they cannot get the personal protective equipment they need because it is going to hospitals. At ArchCare, which runs five nursing homes, workers wear rain ponchos and beauticians’ gowns. By Sunday the five homes had around 150 cases of Covid-19, and a number of deaths, said Scott LaRue, the president.

“I can’t test, I don’t have PPE,” he said. “What am I supposed to do?”

The Empire State of Mind is anxious, depressed and disconnected.

If in recent days you’ve felt like the collective anxiety in New York has been pervasive and overwhelming, a new survey suggests that you are right.

According to the latest week of data collected and analyzed by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, almost half of New York City residents — 44 percent — reported feeling nervous, anxious or on-edge three to four days a week or more. And 35 percent of city dwellers said they felt down, depressed, or hopeless a similar amount of the time.

The researchers had not asked those questions before, so it was not clear if those numbers were higher than normal.

But the percentage of respondents who said they felt “not at all socially connected” in what is normally one of the world’s most bustling cities doubled from the week before, to 43 percent.

The data offers a quantitative measure of the city’s psychological well-being at a time when New Yorkers find themselves under extraordinary economic, emotional and health-related duress.

The survey found that the number of people reporting that they know someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus doubled in a week’s time.

More than a third of respondents said they or someone in their household had lost a job.

Nearly 60 percent of those who pay rent said they feared being evicted. And a third of city residents said they were seriously considering moving.

“It is clear that the economic burden of coronavirus is falling disproportionately on the people in our city who are least able to afford it,” Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the CUNY School of Public Health, said in a statement.

Two more people in homeless shelters have died.

Two more men living in city homeless shelters have died of coronavirus, bringing the number of deaths to four, as city officials struggle to contain the spread.

The city Department of Homeless Services said that as of Monday, 107 people in 66 different shelters had tested positive. The men who died were all over 50, with at least one in his eighties, the city social services department said. The city did not release their names.

Governor Cuomo said that 1,218 people had died in New York.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that the worst of the outbreak was yet to come, even as another 253 people died in the state in a 24-hour period.

“If you wait to prepare for a storm to hit, it is too late,” the governor said. “You have to prepare before the storm hits. And in this case the storm is when you hit that high point, when you hit that apex. How do you know when you’re going to get there? You don’t.”

Here were some other developments on Monday:

• New York reported almost 7,000 new cases of the virus, bringing the total to nearly 66,500. Most of the cases were in New York City, where, officials reported later on Monday, 38,087 people been infected.

• The number of virus-related deaths in New York City rose to 914 Monday afternoon, up 138 from around the same time Sunday, officials said.

• Seven employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have died of the virus, including a bus driver in Brooklyn and a subway station cleaner in the Bronx.

• Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey announced 3,347 new positive coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the total to 16,636. There were 37 new deaths, for a total of 198.

• Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut announced 578 new coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the total to 2,571. There were two new deaths, for a total of 36 in the state.

A New Jersey guardsman is the U.S. military’s first virus-related death.

A member of the New Jersey National Guard died on Saturday of complications related to the coronavirus, the first virus-related death of a U.S. service member, officials said on Monday.

The National Guard member, Capt. Douglas Linn Hickock, 57, a father of four, was a drilling guardsman and a physician’s assistant who lived in Pennsylvania but was originally from Jackson, N.J., Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said.

“Today is a sad day for the Department of Defense, as we have lost our first American service member, active, reserve or Guard,” the defense secretary, Mark T. Esper said in a statement.

Are you a health care worker in the New York area? Tell us what you’re seeing.

As The New York Times follows the spread of the coronavirus across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we need your help. We want to talk to doctors, nurses, lab technicians, respiratory therapists, emergency services workers, nursing home managers — anyone who can share what they are seeing in the region’s hospitals and other health care centers. Even if you haven’t seen anything yet, we want to connect now so we can stay in touch in the future.

A reporter or editor may contact you. Your information will not be published without your consent.

Reporting was contributed by Jonah Engel Bromwich, Kate Conger, Michael Corkery, Luis Ferré-Sadurni, Michael Gold, Christina Goldbaum, John Leland, Andy Newman, Noam Scheiber, Matt Stevens, Tracey Tully and David Yaffe-Bellany,

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2020-03-31 15:18:33Z
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Stock market live updates: Dow's worst first quarter ever, S&P 500's worst month since '08 - CNBC

The market is wrapping up a brutal quarter as investors search for a bottom in the fastest bear market ever amid the coronavirus crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on track to post its worst first quarter in history, but the recent sharp rebound raises the question if the worst is behind us. Here's what's happening:

11:17 am: Job vacancies contract as coronavirus slowdown intensifies

Job opening, which at one point had outnumbered available workers by more than a million, are starting to contract as the coronavirus freezes economic activity. The number of available positions fell by nearly 9% over the past week, according to Glassdoor, with the drop particularly acute in consumer-related services and trade and transportation. Travel and tourism openings fell by 44.6% and arts and entertainment dropped 30% during the period. Two bright spots: Health care openings rose by 1% and salaries were up 3.1% in March from the same period a year ago. Still, half the employers surveyed said they either were freezing or reducing openings. – Cox

10:45 am: Goldman sees 15% jobless rate and 34% GDP decline, followed by the fastest recovery in history

Goldman Sachs has revised its view for how the coronavirus will impact the U.S. economy, seeing a sharper downturn than originally thought followed by an even bigger upturn. Among its expectations are that the unemployment will peak around 15% later this year, well above original expectations for 9%. Gross domestic product is forecast to fall 9% in the first quarter followed by a stunning 34% plunge in the second quarter that would be by far the worst period in post-World War II history. -- Cox

10:32 am: Analysts are still finding stocks to buy like Wendy's and HP on hopes the market has bottomed

• Wedbush upgraded Wendy's to outperform from neutral.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Dollar General to overweight from equal weight.
• Argus upgraded HP to buy from hold.
• Barclays upgraded Sanderson Farms to overweight from equal weight.
• Berenberg upgraded Box to buy from hold.
• Gordon Haskett upgraded Cheesecake Factory to buy from hold.
• Atlantic Equities downgraded Honeywell to neutral from overweight.
• Berenberg downgraded Teladoc Health to hold from buy. — Bloom

10:22 am: Stocks turn positive

The three major indexes all pushed into the green as White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed some mild confidence that the U.S. efforts to combat the coronavirus were working and consumer confidence topped expectations. Fauci told CNN in an interview that he could see "glimmers" that social distancing was having the desired effect in the country and that he thought the U.S. would be well prepared to deal with a possible second wave of the virus in the fall. — Pound

10:01 am: Chicago PMI tops expectations

The Chicago PMI came in at 47.8 for March, well above the 40.0 projected by economists, according to Dow Jones. The reading still signaled a contraction in business activity because it was below 50. The Chicago PMI in February was 49. — Pound

9:31 am: Dow opens 100 points lower

The Dow fell about 100 points at the open as the 30-stock average headed for its worst quarter since 1987 and its worst first quarter ever. Losses in UnitedHealth and JPMorgan shares weighed on the blue-chip benchmark. The S&P 500 is down 0.6%, on track for its worst quarter since 2008 and its worst first quarter since 1938. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.5% at the open. — Li

9:01 am: 'It's time in the market, not timing the market'

Bank of America Vice Chairman Keith Banks warned investors Tuesday against getting clever and trying to time the stock market. "The reality is, it's time in the market, not timing the market" that proves most lucrative over the long term, he said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Banks, also head of BofA's investment solutions group, said he's advising clients to begin adding risk their portfolio and return to "a more normalized level of equity exposure." —Stankiewicz

8:51 am: Goldman's list of stocks for 'income-oriented' investors as dividends come under pressure

Goldman Sachs expects the S&P 500 dividend payout to drop 25% this year as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on corporate profits. Still, the bank managed to identify 40 stocks offering high dividend yields and security of payouts for "income-oriented" investors. "With 10-year US Treasury yields at 0.8%, income-seeking investors should consider stocks with both high dividend yields and the capacity to maintain the distributions," said Cole Hunter, Goldman's U.S. portfolio strategist. Goldman's list of stocks with safe dividends include media company Omnicom, which pays a 5% dividend yield, and IBM, which offers a 6% yield.—Li

8:45 am: Fed extends repo program to other central banks

The Federal Reserve has opened its short-term lending program with commercial banks to other central banks around the world. In an announcement Tuesday morning, the Fed said it was extending its repo program, which provides cash infusions in exchange for high-quality collateral, to central banks and other international authorities with accounts at the New York Fed. The program is expected to last six months. The cash that participants receive can be spread to institutions within those regions that then can be loaned out to individuals and businesses. "This facility should help support the smooth functioning of the U.S. Treasury market by providing an alternative temporary source of U.S. dollars other than sales of securities in the open market," the Fed said in a release. The coronavirus crisis has generated huge global demand for dollar-denominated assets that the Fed also has facilitated through dollar swaps with other central banks around the world. –Cox

8:21 am: Payment volume falls in March for U.S. and cross-border, Visa says

Shares of Visa moved slightly lower on Tuesday morning after the company released updated information for its first and second quarters. U.S. payments volume was down 4% for the first four weeks of March, compared with last year, but the volume for the first quarter was still up 9%. Cross-border volume has taken a much bigger hit during the coronavirus crisis, down 19% in March. The payments company said it expects net revenue to grow in the mid-single digits in the second quarter. The stock has held up better than the broader market during 2020, down just 11% for the year. —Pound

8:12 am: Domino's Pizza withdraws 2020 guidance

Shares of the pizza chain Domino's sunk more than 7% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company withdrew its 2020 financial guidance. "Due to the current uncertainty surrounding the global economy and the Company's business operations considering COVID-19, the Company is withdrawing its fiscal 2020 guidance measures related to general and administrative expenses, capital expenditures, store food basket pricing and the impact of foreign currency on royalty revenues," the company said. Domino's has kept many U.S. locations open during the pandemic but many international stores remain closed. —Fitzgerald

8:04 am: Coronavirus update: Global cases exceed 800,000

The coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, with cases worldwide topping 800,000, according to Johns Hopkins. Global deaths reached more than 38,000. Infections in the U.S. amount to more than 164,000 and deaths in America rose about 3,000. Spain's death toll reached 8,189, up from 7,340 the day before, the country's health ministry said. Iran's death toll from coronavirus has reached 2,898, with 141 deaths in the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, Reuters reported. —Fitzgerald

7:45 am: Oil jumps after falling to lowest level in nearly two decades

Oil prices jumped on Tuesday, one day after dropping to the lowest level since 2002. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 7.8%, or $1.57, to trade at $21.66 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude rose 4.22% to $23.72 per barrel. WTI is on track for its worst month ever after falling 55%, as crude continues to get hit on both the demand and supply side. The coronavirus outbreak, which has halted travel and slowed business activity, has weighed on demand, while a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia means the market could soon be flooded with excess oil. The OPEC+ production cuts currently in place expire today, and Saudi Arabia is among the nations that has said it will ramp up production. Amid oil's decline, on Monday U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call in which they agreed to have top officials from both countries discuss slumping prices, according to a report from Reuters. —Stevens

7:40 am: Futures are flat as Dow wraps up worst first quarter in its history

U.S. stock futures rested along the flatline on Tuesday as Wall Street took a breather following strong gains in the previous session. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 24 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were also down slightly while Nasdaq 100 futures traded marginally higher. The major stock averages rallied more than 3% each on Monday amid optimism around extended social distancing guidelines in the U.S. and Johnson & Johnson identifying a vaccine candidate for the coronavirus. Despite the recent comeback, the market is on pace to end the month and quarter with big losses:

• The Dow is down 12% in March, on pace for its worst month since October 2008.
• The S&P 500 is down 11% in March, also on pace for its worst month since 2008.
• The Dow is down 21.8% this quarter, on track for its worst quarter since 1987 and its worst first quarter ever.
• The S&P 500 is off 18.7% this quarter, on track for its worst quarter since 2008 and its worst first quarter since 1938. —Imbert

—CNBC's Michael Bloom, Kevin Stankiewicz, Jesse Pound, Jeff Cox and Yun Li contributed reporting.

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2020-03-31 14:49:53Z
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