By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Monday, March 16th. Almost the entire market is posting heavy losses, after emergency measures by the Federal Reserve on Sunday failed to restore investor confidence. Please refresh for updates.
- 8:20 AM ET: Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) stock was down 17% after the Federal Reserve’s emergency rate cut threatened to crush lending margins without, at least in the short term, supporting income at the bank’s markets division.
- JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) stock was down 15% and Citigroup (NYSE:C) stock was down 17.1% for similar reasons.
- United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) stock was down 18.4% after saying it will slash capacity by half in response to the Covid-19 induced collapse in demand for air travel. American Airlines stock (NASDAQ:AAL) fell 18.2% and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock fell 14.2%, not least due to the expansion of U.S. restrictions on European arrivals to include London and Dublin.
- Whiting Petroleum (NYSE:WLL) fell 38.6% and Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) fell 41%, as two of the U.S.’s biggest names in shale oil and gas production lurched closer to bankruptcy in the pull of tumbling prices for crude oil and natural gas.
- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock fell 12.5%, caught in the general apocalyptic mood, underlined by its decision to close all retail stores outside China. Things were made worse by the decision of French antitrust regulators to fine it $1.2 billion for alleged manipulation of wholesale prices to ensure that its own retail network wasn’t undercut.
- The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:LQD) was down 4.6% at a 12-month low, an illustration of the stress being felt even by notionally high-quality credits.
- 8:27 AM ET: MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) stock fell 18.1% and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) stock fell 19.8% after the two companies announced they would close their Las Vegas casinos due to the coronavirus. The moves effectively shutter much of the Las Vegas strip, including such icons as Bellaggio's and Mirage.
- 8:30 AM ET: Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) stock fell by 22.2% after the company said it will temporarily shutter eight plants across Europe in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock fell 12% and Ford Motor (NYSE:F) stock fell 9.6% amid fears that they may be forced to take similar action, and more broadly due to fears that sales are likely to crater in the coming months.
8:39 AM ET: AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) stock fell 22.4%, as the company held off from a complete closure of its U.S. movie theaters.
AMC said on Friday it would limit theater capacity at the lower of 50 seats or 50%. According to Comscore research, U.S. box office receipts at the weekend hit their lowest total since immediately after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
- Carnival (NYSE:CCL) stock fell 14.9% after the cruise line operator said it will suspend new cruises by all of its North American brands for the next month. The company had already suspended Diamond cruises for two months last week.