Stocks continued Monday's sell off throughout Tuesday's session. Investors traded cautiously as they weighed economic consequences for uncharted territory in oil pricing. Demand for oil is expected to remain depressed for the remainder of the coronavirus pandemic as global travel and energy dependent industries pull crude prices lower. The West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) futures contract for June dropped more than 40% on Tuesday, just a day after the benchmark settled fell below zero for the first time in history. Market participants are now concerned that the deep losses for the energy industry will harm the U.S. economy even further.
However, President Donald Trump is determined to save the oil industry during this unprecedented time. Trump tweeted: "We will never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down. I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!"
Here's how the market closed out on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -3.07% or -86.60 points to 2,736.56
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -2.67% or -631.56 points to 23,018.88
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -3.48% or -297.50 points to 8,263.23
In Major Stock News, shares of IBM (NYSE: IBM) dropped after the company reported a decline in revenue in the first quarter in 2019 due to the spread of COVID-19. The major computer hardware company also withdrew full-year guidance for 2020. Software stocks like Alteryx (NYSE: AYX), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY), and Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) all sank along with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) in a being tech sell off with coronavirus impacting advertising revenues. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) announced that the coffee chain will be partnering with Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) to offer plant-based menu items in China.
In Stock Sector News, every sector continued to fall as market participants traded with risk management in mind. The negative sector performance was as follows: Information Technology -4.10%, Financials -3.20%, Communication Services -3.18%, Health Care -3.14%, Consumer Discretionary -2.66%, Materials -2.48%, Industrials -2.42%, Consumer Staples -2.27%, Energy -1.68%, Real Estate and Utilities -1.61%.
In Commodity and Currency News, oil benchmarks settled above negative pricing on Monday. West Texas Intermediate settled at $9.06 per barrel, increasing over 100% in price. Yet, Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) slipped over -25% to cost $19.50 per barrel. Gold (NYSE: GLD) settled below the $1,700 threshold, but ended Tuesday's session positively with metal's price to $1,688 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) ended the day up +0.26%.
For Wednesday, market participants are most likely to trade based on OPEC and coronavirus headlines. In addition, companies like Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), AT&T (NYSE: T) and Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) will be reporting their quarterly earnings.