March 2 through March 6 , 2020
Euro Trader P. M4
Emerging Markets P. M4
Striking Price P. M5
Commodities P. M6
Inside Scoop P. M7
13D Filings P. M7
Power Play P. M7
Charting the Market P. M9
Winners & Losers P. M10
Research Reports P. M11
Market View P. M12
Statistics P. M13
25,864.78
52-wk:+1.63%YTD:-9.37%Wkly:+1.79%
Dow Jones Industrials
2972.37
S&P 500
52-wk:+8.36%YTD:-8.00%Wkly:+0.61%
8575.62
Nasdaq Composite
52-wk:+15.76%YTD:-4.42%Wkly:+0.10%
0.77%
10-year Treasury yield
52-wk:-73.00%YTD:-62.83%Wkly:-37.17%
27500
25500
25000
26000
26500
27000
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Close
Source: Barron’s StatisticsFriday
MARKET PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD
+1,293.96
+1,173.45
-785.91
-969.58
-256.50
Dow Jones Industrials
Stocks reboundedfrom the previous Friday’s
selloff,asbuyersrespondedtoanoversold
market right on schedule.
A surprise rate cutby the Federal Reserve
spooked the market—and caused the
Dow Jones Industrial Average to give back
a big chunk of Monday’s gains.
Joe Biden’s strong showingin the Democratic
primaries helped push the Dow higher, but those
gains disappeared over the next two days as the
number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased.
THE TRADER
Wild Swings
In Stocks
Don’t Bode
Well for the
Market
I
t’s the end of the world as we
know it—but at least the stock
market finished higher. Just
don’t expect it to last.
No, it’s not really the end,
but it sure felt that way at
certain moments this past
week. The coronavirus spread in the
U.S. and abroad. Big rallies were
followed by equally big drops. The
Federal Reserve was worried enough
about the U.S. economy to lower its
benchmark interest rate by half a per-
centage point, causing a market panic
in the process. And by the end of the
week, the yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury note had fallen to 0.709%,
its lowest on record.
Yet the major indexes managed to
finish the week in the green. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average gained
455.42 points, or 1.8%, to 25,864.78,
while the Nasdaq Composite ticked up
0.1%, to 8575.62, and the S&P 500
index rose 0.6%, to 2972.37.
That doesn’t do justice to the crazi-
ness that was this past week. The S&P
500 index gained 4.6% on Monday as
the market rebounded from the previ-
ous week’s decline. It dropped 2.8%
on Tuesday after the Fed’s surprise
rate cut. It rose 4.2% on Wednesday
after Joe Biden’s strong Super Tuesday
showing, and then dropped 3.4% on
Thursday as coronavirus fears seized
the market. It looked as if Friday
would be a repeat of Thursday—the
S&P 500 was down as much as 4%—
before comments from a Fed governor
about buying securities to prop up the
economy helped the index close down
just 1.7% on the day.
It just wasn’t enough. The S&P 500
needed to finish the week at 2990 to
take a retest of its recent low off the
table, Fairlead Strategies’ Katie Stock-
ton says. Friday’s rally made it close,
just not close enough. That means
the market’s breakdown has been
confirmed—and that the late-day rise
might have only delayed the inevita-
ble. “It’s the most frustrating possible
outcome,” Stockton says.
The stock market’s big swings were
another reason to worry. The S&P
500’s weekday gains of 4.6% and
4.2% were the sixth and 10th biggest
since the beginning of 2009. Sadly,
they didn’t matter all that much, as
the market sold off the following day
By Ben Levisohn
MARKET WEEK