Stocks - Wall Street Remains in Red on Profit-Taking

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks remained lower Friday morning, amid profit-taking after a blistering three-day rally that some said could mark the start of a new bull market.

By 11:05 AM ET (1410 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 854 points, or 3.8%, while the S&P 500 was down 3.3% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 3.3%.

The House of Representatives was debating the $2.2 trillion economic support package, with a voice vote still expected to bring final passage to the bill. But there were still some reports of holdout lawmakers looking for a roll-call vote, which would delay passage.

In addition, the near-term trajectory for the virus itself continues to look negative, with the total number of cases in the U.S. overtaking those in China at over 86,000 according to Johns Hopkins data. Elsewhere, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson reported that he had tested positive for the virus, while the death toll in Spain and Italy accelerated.

And shortly after the opening bell, the University of Michigan said its final measure of March consumer sentiment saw the biggest drop since the financial crisis in 2008.

Among individual stocks, Boeing (NYSE:BA) was down 10.7% after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reinforced impressions that a government injection of equity into the airplane maker was unlikely, while Carnival (NYSE:CCL) stock led the cruise liner sector lower with an 18.6% drop, amid concerns that the sector will be at the back of the line when it comes to government support.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock retreated 5% after sharing in the market's rapid gains this week, while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) edged up 0.4%

Oil and gas stocks remained under pressure as crude prices tumbled again, collateral damage from the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) stock was down 4.9% after chief executive Scott Sheffield complained to CNBC that companies such as his were being squeezed between the likes of Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and financially stressed producers such as Marathon and Ovintiv.

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