The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, April 26, 2020.
Jeena Moon | Reuters
This is a live blog. Here’s what’s going on:
8:10 am: Barclays raises oil target
Barclays raised its target on West Texas Intermediate and Brent on Friday, saying that while prices will likely remain volatile in the short term as the market re-balances, the worst is now over. “Market forces have aligned producers around the world to support fundamentals and demand is increasingly showing signs of having troughed,” the firm said. Barclays sees WTI and Brent averaging $33 and $37 this year, respectively, before rebounding to $50 and $53 in 2021. WTI traded around $28.23 per barrel on Friday, with Brent at $31.70. — Stevens
8 am: China insider says the country could activate ‘unreliable entity list’ to retaliate
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Chinese state-run publication Global Times, said in a tweet Friday that if the U.S. takes further action to block supply to Huawei, China will activate the “unreliable entity list”, “restrict or investigate” U.S. companies including Qualcomm, Cisco and Apple, and suspend the purchase of Boeing airplanes. His comment came after the White House moved to prevent shipments of semiconductors to the Chinese telecom giant as tensions between the two nations flared up again amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The companies Hu mentioned came under pressure in premarket trading Friday with shares of Qualcomm and Cisco dropping 5.3% and 2.3%, respectively. Apple also fell 2.4% in premarket, while Boeing dipping 3.5%. Hu’s Twitter account was closely followed by many Wall Street traders for insight on the trade war last year. His commentary appeared to have inside knowledge about the U.S.-China trade relationship and has sometimes been market-moving. The Global Times is a tabloid under the People’s Daily which is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China. — Li
7:55 am: Consumer purchases probably hit a new record low in April
Retail sales are expected to hit new depths in April as wary consumers stayed home and bought mainly essentials online. The advance reading, to be released Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show a plunge of 12.3%, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones. That comes a month after a record 8.7% drop for data that goes back to 1992. The previous low was a 3.8% decline in November 2008 during the financial crisis. Consumers account for about 68% of all U.S. economic activity, so the retail figures are critical. — Cox
7:50 am: Chip stocks fall amid Huawei worries
Semiconductor stocks fell in premarket trading after the Commerce Department said it would move to block the sale of chips to Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Shares of Micron were trading 3.4% lower, while Nvidia fell roughly 2%. Broadcom and Intel both slipped 1.8%. — Pound
7:43 am: White House moves to block chips to China’s Huawei
The Trump administration on Friday took action to prevent shipments of semiconductors to China’s telecom giant Huawei Technologies. The Commerce Department said it was changing an export rule to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.” The company has for months been in the crosshairs of a broader U.S.-China trade battle and the latest announcement is likely to take a toll on the globe’s second-largest smartphone maker. — Franck
7:30 am: Stock futures point to Friday losses
U.S. stock futures pointed to losses to start the regular session Friday as investors braced for what’s expected to be a grim report on April’s retail sales at 8:30 a.m. ET, which will provide a key insight into U.S. household spending in recent weeks. Wall Street is also monitoring U.S.-China relations after the White House took action to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei from the world’s chipmakers. The move could, in tandem with the administration’s prior move to ban federal retirement investment in Chinese stocks, lead to renewed angst between the globe’s two economic superpowers. — Franck
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox and Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.
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