Friday’s Stock Market Close: US Equities Mixed As Covid-19 Fears Swirl, Apple To Close 11 Stores

U.S. stocks finished mixed on Friday in volatile trading as Apple (AAPL) said will again close a total of 11 stores in Florida, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina, raising renewed worries about the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 208.64 points to 25,871.46, while the S&P 500 fell 17.6 points to 3,097.74 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 3.07 points to 9,946.12.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.04%.

Friday’s volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 5.06 billion shares with 1,071 issues advancing, 68 setting new highs, and 1,900 declining, with six stocks setting new lows .

Active movers were led by United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL), Ford Motor Co. (F) and American Airlines (AAL).

The Cruise Lines International Association said it will suspend cruise operations from U.S. ports due to the pandemic.

Arizona, Florida and California reported spikes in covid-19 cases.

“COVID cases have been spiking higher in certain U.S. states …the issue is becoming too much for the market to ignore,” said Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli on Friday. “The problem has more to do with market expectations (way too complacent/calm) and psychology (with the consensus embracing the “V”-shaped narrative).”

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said on Friday that the Federal Reserve has seen great demand from small businesses for its lending facility.

“Of course there is a learning curve, but we are seeing tremendous interest in the loans from businesses,” he said. “Lenders are determining how they’ll participate in and communicate about the program. Borrowers will need to persist during this ramp-up phase.”

Rosengren also said U.S. businesses will need more financial support.

Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles warned that Wall Street banks’ dividends may be affected by adjustments to the annual stress tests the Fed runs in response to the pandemic.

“We simply would not have been doing our jobs if we had just run the test using a scenario framed before the economy began to deteriorate in March,” Quarles said.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus-relate crisis has exacerbated economic inequality, hurting low-income workers and minorities.

“While we are all affected, the burden has fallen disproportionately on those least able to bear it,” Powell said. “A particular cruelty of the pandemic has been its disproportionate effects on many areas that were already suffering.”

“The rally of the past few months may have led to stocks reaching within striking distance of record highs, but investors are struggling to reconcile upward momentum and less optimistic messages about the months ahead,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “That, along with concerns about a second wave of coronavirus and geopolitical tensions, has led to some serious indecisiveness.”

Overnight in Asia, markets finished higher. The Shanghai Composite climbed 0.96%; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.73%; while Japan’s Nikkei-225 gained 0.55%.

In Europe markets finished higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 1.1%, while France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.42% and Germany’s DAX rose 0.4%.

Crude oil futures rose 1.85% at $39.56 per barrel, Brent crude slipped 0.26% at $42.08. Gold futures rose 1.4%.

The euro slipped 0.17% at $1.1184 while the pound sterling fell 0.52% at $1.2357.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up 0.43% to 0.697% while yield on the 30-year Treasury rose 0.62% to 1.47%.