Stocks slid as investors fatigued while trying to assess, anticipate, and respond to various uncertainties regarding the course of the pandemic, the economic shutdowns, and the monetary and fiscal relief efforts to respond to it all. Stocks were higher in the early going, but shed their gains amid worries over a second wave of virus as more economies reopen, as warned about by Dr. Anthony Fauci in testimony to lawmaker. Meanwhile, a number of energy-levered stocks advanced as WTI crude oil prices rallied on reports of the duration of Saudi production cuts being extended.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, the NFIB small business optimism index fell 5.7% to to 90.9 in April, hitting a seven year low. The consumer price index dropped 0.8% in April, while the core CPI rate slid 0.4%, which was a little lower than analysts had forecast. Additionally, Treasury announced a record $737.9B budget deficit for April.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo reported 195 coronavirus deaths in the state versus 161 the day before, adding in his daily COVID-19 briefing that New York state needs $61B in federal support.
TOP NEWS: Shares of GrubHub (GRUB) surged 29% after Bloomberg's Ed Hammond and The Wall Street Journal's Cara Lombardo each separately reported that Uber Technologies (UBER) has made an offer to acquire the rival food delivery service. GrubHub later released a statement that did not confirm or deny takeover talks with Uber, though the company said that while its policy is not to comment on specific market rumors, it is "always looking at value-enhancing opportunities." GrubHub did not mention Uber in this statement. Uber closed 2.4% higher as investors appeared to be pleased about the prospects of such a tie-up.
Meanwhile, shares of PNC Financial (PNC) fell over 2% after the company announced its intent to sell its investment in BlackRock (BLK) through a registered offering and related buyback by BlackRock. Following that announcement, Dealreporter said in recap that "presumably PNC is now on the hunt for another big bank deal" and the deal-focused news service speculated Regions Financial (RF), Comerica (CMA), KeyCorp (KEY) and Fifth Third (FITB) as potential PNC takeover targets, contacts tell The Fly. BlackRock shares closed almost 8% lower.
Shares of CymaBay (CBAY) surged 127% after an expert panel completed an independent review analyzing findings from its Phase 2b study of seladelpar in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, and concluded there was no clinical, biochemical or histological evidence of seladelpar-induced liver injury in the study. On the flip side, Genfit (GNFT) closed 67.3% lower after announcing that its Phase 3 study for elafibranor in patients with NASH failed to meet its primary endpoint.
Tesla (TSLA) was in focus after CEO Elon Musk said that the car maker was restarting car production at its Fremont, California plant against Alameda County rules. In response, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was unaware that the company was doing so, and Alameda County said in a statement that it hopes that Tesla can comply without further enforcement measures. President Trump also chimed in, saying on Twitter that the state of California should led Tesla open the plant, adding that it can be done fast and safely. Musk thanked Trump for his comments in his own tweet.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers on the S&P were a number of oil & gas names, including Oneok (OKE), Marathon Oil (MRO) and Devon Energy (DVN). Also higher were Amcor (AMCR) and Green Dot (GDOT), which gained a respective 3.2% and 13.5% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers following earnings were Eventbrite (EB) and GreenSky (GSKY), which fell 23.6% and 18.5%, respectively.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 457.21, or 1.89%, to 23,764.78, the Nasdaq lost 189.79, or 2.06%, to 9,002.55, and the S&P 500 declined 60.20, or 2.05%, to 2,870.12.
