The CEOs of America’s largest oil companies are scheduled to meet Friday with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the crisis facing the industry.
A person familiar with the summit confirmed to CNN Business the attendees will include ExxonMobil (XOM) CEO Darren Woods, Chevron (CVX) boss Michael Wirth, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) CEO Vicki Hollub and Harold Hamm, the executive chairman of Continental Resources (CLR).
The meeting comes as Trump sent oil prices skyrocketing by a record 25% Thursday after he suggested a massive production cut by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Analysts cast doubt on the claim and no agreement has been announced.
Trump has expressed concern that America’s oil industry is “being ravaged” by the recent crash to $20 oil.
“We don’t want to lose our great oil companies,” the president said Wednesday.
The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s biggest lobby, has said oil companies aren’t seeking a bailout from Trump.
The API said its executives plan to emphasize to Trump the importance of free markets.
Other attendees Friday include Devon Energy (DVN) CEO David Hager, Phillips 66 (PSX) boss Greg Garland and Energy Transfer (ET) CEO Kelcy Warren, the person said.
US stocks closed higher and snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday.
Investors shrugged off the largest number of initial jobless claims in history. Gains were driven by energy stocks, which rallied on soaring oil prices after President Donald Trump called for production cuts.
This morning’s initial jobless claims were the highest in American history. Some 6.6 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the week ended March 28, as the coronavirus crisis forces people to stay home and businesses to shut their doors.
Over the course or March, more than 10 million initial claims were filed.
That’s quite the way to put it in perspective, even considering that the population and number of employed people have risen since.
“On a per week basis, this recession is starting out with claims running at 1.89% of employment per week, more than three times the prior record,” Pearkes added.
Lowe’s is implementing a temporary $2 an hour pay increase for all of its workers.
The home improvement chain said in its announcement Thursday that the wage increase is for April only. It applies to all of the company’s full-time, part-time and seasonal hourly workers who are employed at Lowe’s stores, its contact centers and its fulfillment facilities in the United States and Canada.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said the move was a “way to thank our 300,000 associates for their heroic actions in serving the needs of our communities.”
Masks and gloves will be available to all associates. Lowe’s also noted that it has halted sales of N95 masks which are instead “being donated to hospitals to protect frontline healthcare workers.”
Also, Lowe’s will now close all of its stores at 7pm daily to allow time for cleaning and sanitizing.
The major US stock indexes have pulled back from their highs in the early afternoon. The rally earlier in the day came on the back of a jump in energy stocks as oil prices soared following President Donald Trump’s call for production cuts.
Trump said in a tweet he has spoken to leaders in Saudi Arabia and Russia about the cutbacks in oil production. Saudi Arabia has since called for an emergency OPEC meeting, while Russia denied the conversation with Trump.
Oil prices are still up in the afternoon but have lost some steam. The same goes for energy stocks, which are off their highs.
The Dow was up 0.2%, or 40 points. At its high point, the index had been up more than 500 points.
The S&P 500 was up just 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite was flat.
Coca-Cola is not planning to lay off workers at this point, CEO James Quincey confirmed to CNN’s Poppy Harlow in an interview on Thursday.
“We have not made any global restructuring,” Quincey said, reiterating statements he made last week, adding that Coca-Cola is “a long-term company trying to do our best.”
Still, Quincey has dire predictions for the next few months.
“Clearly this virus, this pandemic, is having an economic impact. I think we’re going to see the worst of it starting from March through to May,” he said, adding that he expects a “deep shock” to the economy in the second quarter.
The pandemic has already had a devastating impact on jobs.
Businesses are closing their doors to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In the week ending March 28, 6.6 million US workers filed for their first week of unemployment benefits, according to the Department of Labor.
Coca-Cola is taking its own measures to try to protect workers, including spreading people out in production facilities, instructing employees to work remotely if they can and offering paid sick leave to people who get sick with coronavirus or think they might be ill.
IBM (IBM) has created a new tool within its Watson artificial intelligence system to help government agencies, health care organizations and schools field questions about coronavirus.
The tool, called Watson Assistant for Citizens, is designed to get data and information to citizens quickly – and potentially cut down on wait times for calls to local hospitals and other authorities.
For example, the City of Lancaster in California is using the tool to answer questions from citizens about coronavirus symptoms and what to do in case of infection.
The Watson Assistant for Citizens draws guidance from national sources like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as from local sources for information like school closures, town news and state documents.
The tool can be deployed over the phone or online, and it uses IBM’s Natural Language Processing technology to understand people’s questions.
IBM is offering the Watson Assistant free for 90 days, and it’s already being deployed in several US states plus the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Goldman Sachs (GS) announced a $300 million coronavirus relief package to support small businesses and communities during the outbreak.
The bank will provide $250 million in low-interest emergency loans and $25 million in grants to community development financial institutions. A separate $25 million fund will support the hardest-hit communities, Goldman said in a press release.
Saudi Arabia is calling for an “urgent” meeting meeting between OPEC and other nations in hopes of reaching a production cut deal that could aid the battered oil market.
The Saudi Press Agency said in a tweet Thursday morning that the kingdom is seeking a meeting for OPEC+ states “and another group of countries” in an attempt to try to reach a “fair solution to restore a desire balance of the oil markets.”
It’s not clear who would be part of that additional group of countries. Since early March, Saudi Arabia and Russia have been engaged in an epic price war, flooding the market with excess oil and driving down prices.
The tweet said the invitation is part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to support the global economy “and in appreciation of the US President’s request and the US friends’ request.”
Earlier, US oil prices spiked as much as 35% after President Donald Trump suggested Saudi Arabia and Russia could slash production by 10 million to 15 million barrels per day.
“Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia,” Trump said in the tweet.
However, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russia’s president, told Russian state media there was no such conversation between Putin and MBS.
US oil prices pared their gains but are still up a stunning 20% on the day.
It’s been a wild morning for stocks. The major US indexes were all over the place when markets opened but are steadily rallying mid-morning.
The Dow is up 1.7%, or 350 points, while the S&P 500 is up 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite is 1.3% higher.
Energy stocks are by far the best performing sector after oil prices jumped dramatically this morning following President Donald Trump’s call for production cuts.
The S&P’s top performers are all in the energy industry, and the sector is up more than 12%.
The oil market is going wild after President Donald Trump suggested Saudi Arabia and Russia could reach a truce that would slash production by 10 million barrels per day.
US crude skyrocketed as much as 35% to $27.39 a barrel Thursday morning after Trump’s tweet.
“I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!” Trump tweeted.
Crude was recently trading up 28% to $26 a barrel.
Oil prices crashed to 18-year lows earlier this week in part because Russia and Saudi Arabia are flooding the market with cheap oil at the worst possible time.
A deal to end that price war and instead reduce production would be a big positive for the depressed oil market.
However, it’s weak demand – not excess supply – that’s the primary cause of the oil crash. The extreme health restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented collapse in oil demand.
That means even if there is a truce between Saudi Arabia and Russia, oil prices could remain under pressure.
PepsiCo is adding millions of dollars to the fight against coronavirus.
The food and beverage maker announced it is setting aside a total of $45 million to fund Covid-19 relief efforts around the world.
In a written statement, Pepsi (PEP) said a total of $15.8 million will be spent on US coronavirus aid. Most of that money will fund meals for low-income children, but some will pay for protective gear for medical staffers and financial support for laid off restaurant workers.
An additional $29.2 million will go to relief efforts in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“We’re activating our global resources to do this now and provide other essential relief, and we will continue to do so as the world unites to tackle COVID-19,” PepsiCo Chairman & CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a written statement.
The Federal Reserve really wants America’s big banks to help fight the coronavirus crisis.
The Fed announced a rule change late Wednesday aimed at giving big banks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) the ability to ramp up lending and smooth out turbulence in the Treasury market.
The US central bank will now exclude US Treasuries and deposits left at the Fed from how supplementary leverage ratios are calculated.
In theory, that should give banks more flexibility to make loans and act as market makers.
Banks are getting flooded with deposits from Americans nervous about the pandemic.
That influx forces lenders to set aside ultra-safe assets they can quickly sell in case they were faced with heavy withdrawals, particularly in a bank run. And that leaves banks with less space to make much-needed loans to cash-strapped consumers and businesses.
It also limits big banks’ ability to act as market makers – a critical role given recent turmoil in the Treasury market.
“Liquidity conditions in Treasury markets have deteriorated rapidly,” the Fed in a statement.
KBW analyst Brian Kleinhanzl said the rule change shows the Fed “views the largest banks as ‘solutions’ within the current crisis and not ‘causes.’”
It was only a few days ago that the stock of Luckin Coffee (LK), China’s answer to Starbucks (SBUX), was soaring on hopes that the Chinese economy was recovering.
But Luckin dropped a bomb on investors Thursday, disclosing in an SEC filing that the company was looking into possible accounting fraud that artificially lifted sales.
Making matters worse, Luckin indicated that its COO Jian Liu was involved in helping to fabricate transactions. Shares were down more than 75% in late morning trading.
Wall Street is attempting to shrug off a startling spike in jobless claims.
US markets opened flat, traded higher and then moved into the red Thursday morning.
The very choppy action comes after a new report showed initial unemployment claims skyrocketed to record highs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow dropped 120 points, or 0.6%.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%.
The Nasdaq lost 0.4%.
Markets were poised for a strong rally before 8:30 am ET. That’s when the Labor Department said 6.6 million people filed claims for initial unemployment benefits in the week ended March 28. That shatters the previous record of 3.3 million the week before.
The dreary labor news is another reminder of the severe shock the health crisis is delivering to the American economy.
Discount retailer Ross Stores (ROST) is putting a “majority” of its employees on furlough beginning Sunday.
The company employs 92,500 people across its 1,546 stores in 39 states, according to regulatory filings. Affected employees will still continue to receive their company-funded healthcare.
Ross stores are closed and it’s unclear when they will reopen. In a press release, the company said that furloughs will help it “further enhance liquidity and strengthen its ability to manage through these challenging times.”
Millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, as businesses continue to lay off and furlough workers amid the coronavirus outbreak.
6.6 million workers filed for their first week of unemployment benefits in the week ending March 28 – a new historic high. A week earlier, 3.3 million Americans filed for their first week of benefits, which was the largest number ever at the time.
It was the highest number of initial claims filed in history, surpassing last week’s 3.3 million claims.
Oil prices spiked off 18-year lows Thursday after President Donald Trump predicted Saudi Arabia and Russia could soon make peace in their disastrous oil war.
US crude soared more than 10% to $22.50 a barrel on hopes the two nations will stop flooding the market with cheap oil.
Brent, the world benchmark, also climbed 10% to $27.30 a barrel even though no deal has yet been announced.
Trump said Wednesday that he believes “Russia and Saudi Arabia are going to make a deal at some time in the not-too-distant future.”
“It’s very bad for Russia. It’s very bad for Saudi Arabia. It’s very bad,” the US president said of the oil crash.
Trump raised the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call earlier this week. The two leaders agreed to hold further talks.
But even if Russia and Saudi Arabia agree to supply cuts, it won’t solve all that ails the oil market. Beyond the excess supply, the biggest problem is that coronavirus travel restrictions have caused unprecedented declines in demand for oil.
And that’s something that not even Trump and Putin can solve overnight.
US stock futures are pointing to a higher open on Thursday.
But before the opening bell rings, the Department of Labor is releasing initial jobless claims for the week ended March 28. It’s looking to be another one for the history books, with the consensus estimate at 3.5 million people filing for unemployment benefits. That would outpace last week’s historical record of nearly 3.3 million.
But last week, stocks shrugged off the dramatic data point and rallied, proving that the market has already priced in much of the bad news to come.
Dow futures are up 1.9%, or nearly 400 points. S&P 500 futures are also 1.9% higher, while those for the Nasdaq Composite are up 1.6%.
Demand for used cars was very strong at CarMax earlier this year. The dealer said Thursday that sales rose nearly 15% in the three month period that ended in February. Earnings topped forecasts too.
But that was before the coronavirus became a huge problem for America’s economy. Stores (including some CarMax dealerships) throughout the country have shut down and many consumers have resorted to online shopping. That’s bad news for CarMax.
The company said in its earnings report that it had strong sales in the first week of March too but that since then “sales have dropped significantly.”
“Over the past few weeks, approximately half of our stores have closed or are running under limited operations. For our stores that are open, consumer demand has progressively deteriorated,” the company added.
Investors seemed to be focusing on the positive though. CarMax (KMX) shares rose nearly 5% in early trading. The broader market was higher too.
But CarMax CEO Bill Nash, like many other corporate executives, was not afraid to say he has no idea what’s coming next. That’s one reason why the stock is still down about 40% so far this year.
“The situation is dynamic and changing quickly, making it difficult to predict what the immediate future holds,” Nash said in the earnings release.
