Strong gains in large technology companies a led a relatively modest rebound on US equity markets in what was another choppy session - Dow up +188-points or +0.95% to settle back above 20,000. The index had earlier declined as much as -721 points or over >3%. The broader S&P500 gained +0.47% . Shares of rental-car companies rebounded, with Hertz Global Holdings Inc up +22.8% a day after slumping 39.6% to a record low after Moody's Investors Service downgraded Hertz's credit to B3, which is six notches deep into speculative, or "junk" territory, from B2, as the outlook was revised to negative from stable. Avis Budget Group Inc gained +24.4%. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc rose +17.32% despite announcing that it would temporarily close more than half of its stores in the U.S. and Canada to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. The company will continue to operate stores which sell essential products for health care, personal care, infant care, cleaning supplies, and food and beverages. Department store operator Kohl's Corp fell -5.01% in extended trading (after gaining +10.2% in the regular session) after announcing it is closing all of its more than 1,100 retail stores in the U.S. later today AEST because of the coronavirus pandemic and the stores will be closed at least until 1 April. The technology-centric NASDAQ rose +2.30%. Netflix and Facebook rose 5.3% and 4.2%, respectively. Amazon gained 2.8%. Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc rose +12.4% despite disclosing in a filing that foot traffic has plummeted, and noted it would close stores for the next two weeks. The stock has lost ~50% over the past 12-months.
