| What to watch today: Dow set for sharp drop after worst first quarter ever | | |  | WED, APR 01, 2020 | | | | AS OF WED, APR 01, 2020 • 07:41 ET | | Dow Jones Fut | | 21,917.16 | | Current: | 21,043.00 | | Change: | -708.00 | | Impl. Open: | -746.16 | | | S&P 500 Fut | | 2,584.59 | | Current: | 2,487.25 | | Change: | -82.50 | | Impl. Open: | -86.34 | | | NASDAQ 100 Fut | | 7,813.50 | | Current: | 7,585.00 | | Change: | -201.25 | | Impl. Open: | -215.50 | | | Russell 2000 Mini | | 1,153.10 | | Current: | 1,090.70 | | Change: | -56.90 | | Impl. Open: | -52.20 | | ADP issues its March report on private sector employment at 8:15 a.m. ET. On Thursday, the government's look at weekly jobless claims is expected to show a second week of over 3 million people filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. On Friday, the government releases its monthly employment report for March. (CNBC)
* Start-ups cut nearly 4,000 jobs in March as coronavirus impact ripples through tech (CNBC) | | | | The Institute for Supply Management is out with its March manufacturing index at 10 a.m. ET. Economists expect a contraction. February construction spending, also released at 10 a.m. ET, is expected to show an increase of 0.7% following January's 1.8% advance. The nation's major automakers, with the exception of Ford (F), deliver first quarter sales figures today. Ford's numbers come out tomorrow. (CNBC) | | | | More borrowers are refinancing their mortgages to save money on monthly payments, while potential homebuyers are backing away fast. Driven entirely by refinancing, total mortgage application volume increased 15.3% last week. Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 11% last week. Refis surged 26%. (CNBC) | | | | Macy's (M) is being removed from the S&P 500 index and will be placed in the S&P SmallCap 600 as of April 6. Macy's has a market cap of about $1.5 billion, the smallest in the S&P 500. Carrier Global, which will become a publicly traded company as of Friday following its spin-off from United Technologies (UTX), will replace Macy's in the S&P 500. | | President Donald Trump, in a grim news conference Tuesday evening, sought to prepare Americans for a coming surge in coronavirus deaths, calling COVID-19 a plague and saying the America faces a "very, very painful two weeks." The president said that according to modeling, a U.S. death toll of 100,000 is a "very low number." (CNBC) | | | | Xerox (XRX) dropped its $35 billion hostile bid for HP Incorporated (HPQ), saying it was prioritizing its response to the coronavirus outbreak over all other considerations. Xerox had planned to put up its own slate of directors for election to HP's board but has now dropped that effort as well. | | | | Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC (HSBC), Barclays (BCS) and other big UK bank shave canceled their dividends to shore up their balance sheets amid an expected increase in bad loans due to the virus outbreak. | | | | Caterpillar (CAT) will withhold annual salary increases for executives, managers, and salaried employees, in an effort to hold down expenses amid the coronavirus outbreak. The heavy equipment maker will also not pay out bonuses to employees next year. | | | | Quest Diagnostics (DGX) has pulled its previous financial guidance for 2020, as it tries to determine the impact of the coronavirus on its results. The medical lab operator said that even with a surge of COVID-19 testing, overall testing volume dropped more than 40 % during the last two weeks of March. | | | | Sysco Corp. (SYY) is cutting out fresh food sales for its customers and focusing on frozen products, according to a report in the New York Post. The food distributor is also said to be cutting out Saturday deliveries, product returns, and guaranteed delivery times. | | NFL icons Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will join superstars Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in a golf match organized by AT&T's WarnerMedia and the PGA Tour, a person familiar with the negotiations confirmed to CNBC. The match pitting Mickelson-Brady against Woods-Manning would be a rare sporting event in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has spurred game and match cancellations and suspensions across professional sports. | |  | | |
