US equity markets settled lower on Friday (19 June) after another choppy trading session, erasing morning gains as fresh coronavirus concerns overshadowed reports that China plans to accelerate purchases of American farm goods to comply with the phase one trade deal - Dow down 209-points or -0.80% having rallied as much as +371-points earlier in the session. The broader S&P500 lost -0.56% having been down as much as -1.2% at it worst levels of Friday’s (19 June) session. Utilities (down -3.10%) led ten of the eleven primary sectors lower, with Health Care (up +0.87%) the only primary sector to advance. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (down -5.64%), Carnival Corp (-5.26%) and Royal Caribbean Cruises (-6.87%) tumbled after the Cruise Lines International Association announced a voluntary suspension of operations from U.S. ports until 15 September due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The current no-sail order had been set to expire on 24 July. Bloomberg reported on Sunday (21 June) that American Airlines Group Inc (down -2.97%) is planning to raise ~US$1.5B by via the offer of shares and convertible notes to shore up liquidity. The NASDAQ eked out a +0.03% rise to make it six consecutive positive sessions, having traded above its 10 June record closing high (10,020.35) earlier in the session (touching an intra-session peak of 10,053.91, up +1.15%). Apple Inc (down -0.6%) announced plans to once again close a total of 11 stores in Florida, Arizona, South Caroline and North Carolina. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Insurance Acquisition Corp rose in the extended session on Friday (19 June) following a Bloomberg report that the company was in talks to acquire online used car retailer Shift Technologies Inc in a transaction that could value Shift at more than >US$500M. All three benchmark indices posted modest weekly gains, with the Dow up +1.04%, S&P500 +1.86% and Nasdaq +3.73%.
