Leading Bay Area stocks such as those of Netflix, Tesla and eBay started the week off with solid gains, Monday, but the broader market was in retreat following a historic deal to cut oil production and the latest data on the coronavirus situation in the United States.
Tesla shares climbed 4.5%, to $598.85 days after the electric carmaker said it it would begin furloughing an undisclosed number of workers, and cutting salaries across the board due to the effect of coronavirus upon its business. Tesla has had to cease vehicle production at its plant in Fremont, and last week, the company said it would cut the pay of directors by 20%, vice presidents by 30%, and that of all other employees by 10% due to its financial situation.
Netflix was up by 3.7%, at $384.38 following industry reports suggesting the streaming TV leader is pulling in more viewers who are stuck at home due to coronavirus-related shelter-in-place orders around the country. Netflix reports is quarterly results on April 21, and the company’s growth in subscriber numbers will be seen as a marker of how its business is performing during the coronavirus crisis.
EBay edged up by 1.3%, to $34.44 a share. The e-commerce company on Monday named Jamie Iannone as its new chief executive, to succeed Devin Wenig. Iannone had previously been chief operating officer of Walmart eCommerce.
But, much of the rest of the stock market was on the slide, Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 529.50 points, or more than 2%, to 23,189.87, and the S&P 500 giving up almost 2%, to fall to 2,735.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down by almost 1%, at 8,090.68.
Investors came back to the market after three days away that included last week’s Good Friday holiday. The day’s activity was highlighted by reaction to OPEC saying it will cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels a day, the largest production cut in the cartel’s history. President Trump praised the move as one that would save thousands of jobs in the U.S. oil industry.
The latest data on coronavirus showed California having more than 23,000 cases of the disease, with the number of cases in the Bay Area surpassing 5,000. On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the coronavirus outbreak was slowing down in the U.S., and that sections of the economy could possibly re-open in May.
Among local companies, stock market declines came from Facebook, off by 2.5%, at $170.82 a share; Oracle, which gave up 1.3%, to slip to $52.51 a share; Twitter, down 3.4%, at $26.82 share, and Yelp, which fell by 3%, to $19.09 a share. Last week, Yelp said it would lay off 1,000 employees and furlough 1,100 more because of how the coronavirus crisis has impacted its business.
