New York Post - 13.03.2020

New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020

nypost.com

Bad breakup

Juul Labs said on

Thursday that co-

founder James Monsees

plans to leave the e-ciga-

rette outfit, stepping

down as an adviser and

board member. Shares of

Altria Group, which

owns a large stake in Juul,

sank 10 percent, to $36.42.

5G whiz

Verizon Communica-

tions raised its full-year

capital expenditures as it

accelerates its transition

to 5G network. The com-

pany said it now expects

to spend $17.5 billion to

$18.5 billion in 2020.

Bit of problem

Bitcoin plummeted

more than 25 percent

amid wild volatility in

cryptocurrency markets,

with traders citing a sell-

off across assets as fears

of the economic damage

from the coronavirus

pandemic take hold. By

evening, the price was

$5,804.97.

Guy’s a card

Mastercard and Visa

will see the coronavirus

hurt their sales more than

they expect, according to

a Piper Sandler analyst,

who projected a Master-

card stock-price target of

$292, down from $332,

and Visa target of $197,

from $204, Bloomberg

reported.

Apple deals

Apple has sealed mul-

tiyear licensing deals

with major music labels

like Universal Music,

Sony Music and Warner

Music in recent months.

Sources: AP, Dow Jones,

Reuters and Post wires

Business

Briefs

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@NYPOSTBIZ

By David Benoit

JPMorgan Chief Executive James

Dimon has been released from the

hospital and is recuperating at home,

a week after undergoing emergency

heart surgery, the bank said in a memo

to employees Thursday.

“We want you to know that his doc-

tors said he is doing very well in all

aspects of his recovery,” the memo

from co-Presidents Daniel Pinto and

Gordon Smith said. “He is in good

spirits and looking forward to reen-

gaging with our team soon.”

Dimon, who turns 64 on Friday,

checked himself into a Manhattan hos-

pital on March 5 after experiencing

chest pains while getting ready for work.

He had suffered an acute aortic dis-

section — a rare and often fatal sepa-

ration of tissues in the wall of the

aorta — and underwent several hours

of surgery to repair it.

Pinto and Smith are running JPMor-

gan in Dimon’s absence, a live test of

the bank’s board-approved emergency

succession plan.

Dimon (right) has been CEO of

JPMorgan since 2005, the longest run

of the current big bank chiefs, and his

eventual retirement has long been the

subject of speculation. Dow Jones

By Thorton McEnery

and Noah Manskar

The Dow Jones industrial

average fell by almost 10 per-

cent on Thursday as fears of

the coronavirus escalated —

marking it’s biggest decline

since the stock market crash

of 1987.

The Dow lost 2,352.60

points at the close, down 9.9

percent, to 21,200.62 — de-

spite a $1.5 trillion rescue

plan by the Federal Reserve.

The decline, which in-

cluded a 500-point drop in

the last 10 minutes of trading,

represents the Dow’s worst

day since the “Black Mon-

day” crash 33 years ago,

which resulted in a loss of 22

percent.

Thursday’s bloodletting

also marked the Dow’s sec-

ond day in bear market terri-

tory, coming after the Na-

tional Basketball Association

suspended its season, and ac-

tor Tom Hanks and wife Rita

Wilson announced they were

among the 134,235 people in-

fected by COVID-19 globally.

The S&P 500 also tumbled

into bear territory for the

first time in almost 11 years

following a 7 percent decline

at the open that resulted in a

15-minute trading halt for the

second time in a week.

The S&P ended the day

down 9.5 percent, or 260

points, to 2,480.64, while the

Nasdaq closed down 9.4 per-

cent to 7,201.80.

A bear market is generally

called when stocks fall 20

Quincy Krosby, chief market

strategist at Prudential Fi-

nancial.

Thursday’s sell-off was “the

market screaming ... that

you’re going to see a deterio-

ration in the economic land-

scape, and we need these

proposals intact and deliv-

ered as an emergency meas-

ure to cushion the economy,”

Krosby said.

The bloodbath seemed to

subside midday after the Fed-

eral Reserve said it would

flood the markets with short-

term funding “to address

highly unusual disruptions”

related to the coronavirus

outbreak.

The reversal was short-

lived, though.

Traders complained that

monetary policy alone cannot

save the country from a pan-

demic that’s hurting a slew of

industries from the airlines to

Broadway, as people cancel

their travel plans and large

gatherings become taboo.

“We wanted a bazooka,”

said one hedge fund manager

that trades US Treasuries.

“What we got was a handgun

with rubber bullets. But in

fairness to the Fed, what we

really need are test kits for

this virus.”

Adding to the declines, ex-

perts say, is the push for staff-

ers to work from home to

avoid infection.

On Wall Street, that means

fewer traders who can take

big risks, including buying

stocks when they fall.

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percent from recent highs

during a period of wide-

spread negative sentiment.

Traders attributed the

slump in part to President

Trump’s Wednesday night

speech to severely restrict

travel from continental Eu-

rope. The speech only served

to further raise fears of a

worldwide economic slow-

down — as well as questions

about the White House’s

stimulus plans, Wall Street-

ers griped.

The carnage is likely to

continue until the US gov-

ernment puts forward a con-

crete fiscal stimulus package

to blunt the economic dam-

age of the coronavirus pan-

demic — something that was

noticeably absent from

Trump’s speech, according to

Nasty numbers

These portfolio-punishing stock declines are putting both Wall Street

and Main Street investors on edge.

-9.4%

NASDAQ

-9.5%

S&P

-10%

DOW

Dimon is recovering at home

Nightmarish Dive

Dow’s hair-raising plunge is worst since ’87

Alamy

Business

Nasdaq

Comp.

Down

750.25

7,201.80

Dow

Jones

Indust.

Avg.

Down

2,352.60

21,200.62