Here are five things you must know for Monday, April 27:
1. Stock Futures Rise as Economies Look to Reopen
Stock futures indicated Wall Street would open higher Monday as economies across the globe, including the United States, moved tentatively toward reopening and investors prepped for earnings reports from many American heavyweights.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 272 points, futures for the S&P 500 were up 31 points and Nasdaq futures gained 122 points.
Asian stocks traded higher after the Bank of Japan boosted stimulus measures by pledging to buy more bonds. Central banks in the U.S. and Europe will announce policy moves later this week.
In the U.S., the federal government and various states have been looking at reopening their economies in the weeks ahead, while some such as Georgia already were trying to get back to normal.
“I think as we begin to reopen the economy in May and June you’re going to really see the economy bounce back in July, August, September,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a member of the president’s coronavirus task force, on “Fox News Sunday.” “We are putting in an unprecedented amount of fiscal relief into the economy.”
“You’re seeing trillions of dollars that’s making its way into the economy and I think this is going to have a significant impact,” Mnuchin said of the relief packages that Congress has approved to keep afloat the economy stalled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed global cases of the coronavirus has risen to 2,973,264, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and deaths increased to 206,569.
The U.S. has 965,933 cases of the coronavirus, the most in the world, according to Johns Hopkins CSSE. Deaths in the U.S. have risen to 54,877, also the most in the world.
2. Apple, Amazon and Alphabet Highlight Busy Earnings Week
The week begins slowly with earnings reports Monday from F5 Networks , Keurig Dr Pepper and National Oilwell Varco
It kicks in significantly with reports later in the week from tech giants Apple, Amazon.com , Alphabet , Microsoft and Facebook. While others expected to report earnings include Tesla, United Parcel Service , 3M , Caterpillar, Advanced Micro Devices, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Merck t Boeing, Mastercard , Visa, General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Gilead Sciences, Clorox, Twitter t, Kraft Heinz and AbbVie
3. Fed Meets This Week, GDP Data to Be Released
The economic calendar Monday is bare but on Tuesday and Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee, will be meeting. The central bank lowered rates to near zero in mid-March and it’s expected they will remain there for the foreseeable future, according to economists. Forward guidance from the Fed on rates will be closely watched.
The Commerce Department on Wednesday will release its first estimate of first-quarter GDP. Economists expect U.S. growth to have fallen 3.8% in the period as the coronavirus pandemic severely stalled economic activity beginning in March.
Data on manufacturing activity and consumer confidence also will be issued during the week.
4. Boeing Abandons $4.2 Billion Deal With Brazil’s Embraer
Boeing terminated its $4.2 billion agreement to acquire the commercial aviation business of Embraer citing the Brazilian jet maker’s failure to meet certain conditions.
“Boeing has worked diligently over more than two years to finalize its transaction with Embraer. Over the past several months, we had productive but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations about unsatisfied … conditions,” said . We all aimed to resolve those by the initial termination date, but it didn’t happen,” said Marc Allen, president of Boeing’s Embraer partnership and group operations. “It is deeply disappointing. But we have reached a point where continued negotiation within the framework of the (master transaction agreement) is not going to resolve the outstanding issues.”
Embraer said it “believes strongly that Boeing has wrongfully terminated” the agreement and “that it has manufactured false claims as a pretext to seek to avoid its commitments to close the transaction and pay Embraer the $4.2 billion purchase price.”
Embraer said it would “pursue all remedies against Boeing for the damages incurred.”
5. Airbus CEO Says Planemaker Is ‘Bleeding Cash
The CEO of Airbus, Boeing’s European rival, said the planemaker was “bleeding cash” and without action may not survive as the coronavirus pandemic has halted jet deliveries since mid-March.
“We’re bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed, which may threaten the very existence of our company,” wrote CEO Guillaume Faury in a note to employees. “We must now act urgently to reduce our cash-out, restore our financial balance and, ultimately, to regain control of our destiny.”
“The survival of Airbus is in question if we don’t act now,” he added, as the company slashes production and hints at more pain ahead, including significant job cuts.