Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane discusses Trump’s decision to pull all federal retirement funds out of Chinese equities, a move tied to Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
U.S. equity markets clawed higher Tuesday as investors waited for Congressional testimony from the nation’s coronavirus experts and President Trump ordered federal retirement funds to dump Chinese stocks from their portfolios.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 34 points, or 0.14 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.15 percent. The S&P 500, on the other hand, slipped 0.13 percent.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 24281.63 | +59.64 | +0.25% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 2925.28 | -5.04 | -0.17% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 9199.742263 | +7.40 | +0.08% |
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and other health experts will testify before the Senate on Tuesday via teleconference. Fauci is expected to caution against reopening local economies too quickly.
At least two states are easing lockdown restrictions on Tuesday: Colorado is allowing state parks to reopen campgrounds, and Ohio is permitting consumer, retail and services businesses to reopen with guidelines.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration — in a move tied to Beijing’s handling of COVID-19 — wants the Thrift Savings Plan, a federal employee retirement fund, to pull its investments in Chinese companies, FOX Business has learned. The fund currently owns about $4 billion of Chinese shares.
Looking at stocks, Chinese companies Alibaba, Weibo and Baidu have reacted little to the news.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BABA | ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD | 206.01 | +0.61 | +0.30% |
| WB | WEIBO CORPORATION | 36.82 | +0.45 | +1.24% |
| BIDU | BAIDU INC. | 98.84 | -0.71 | -0.71% |
Elsewhere, Simon Property Group, the largest U.S. mall operator, plans to open about half of its locations within the next week.
Drugmaker Moderna received fast-track approval from the Food and Drug Administration to speed up the review of its experimental coronavirus vaccine.
Separately, Novavax received $348 million of funding for experimental trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, a non-profit founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPG | SIMON PROPERTY GROUP INC. | 57.29 | +2.21 | +4.01% |
| MRNA | MODERNA INC. | 64.28 | -2.62 | -3.92% |
| NVAX | NOVAVAX INC. | 38.29 | +13.79 | +56.27% |
In finance, PNC Financial announced plans to sell its entire 22 percent stake in BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
On the earnings front, Casper Sleep reported mixed first-quarter results and said online sales grew as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to temporarily shut down its retail stores.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNC | PNC FINL SVC | 99.00 | -3.12 | -3.06% |
| BLK | BLACKROCK INC. | 463.60 | -29.51 | -5.98% |
| CSPR | CASPER SLEEP INC | 7.13 | -0.77 | -9.75% |
West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 5.68 percent to $25.51 a barrel while gold rallied 0.76 percent to $1,710 an ounce.
U.S. Treasurys gained, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down 1.9 basis points to 0.707 percent.
In Europe, France’s CAC fell 0.38 percent while Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX added 1.03 percent and 0.15 percent, respectively.
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Markets ended lower across Asia, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sliding 1.45 percent, Japan’s Nikkei slipping 0.12 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite shedding 0.10 percent.
