US equity markets ended the month and quarter in the red to leave both the Dow and S&P500 nursing their worst first quarter performance ever - Dow down -410-points or -1.84%, paring a climb of as much as much as +152-points. The broader S&P500 shed -1.6% . S&P Dow Jones Indices announced after the closing bell that retailer Macy's Inc will depart the S&P500 (along with Raytheon Co following the expected completion of their merger with United Technologies Corp) and join the S&P SmallCap 600. Otis Worldwide Corp and Carrier Global Corp will join the S&P 500. The changes come into effect at the opening of the market this Friday night AEST (3 April). The NASDAQ fell -0.95%. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Xerox Holdings Corp announced that is has dropped its ~US$30B hostile takeover bid to acquire larger rival HP Inc because of the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic
