| Wednesday's Headlines 1. US markets fall as economic reports sap enthusiasm 2. Goldman, Citi, and Bank of America report earnings declines 3. Retail sales fell in nearly every category in March 4. Who might be allowed to return to work first 5. These stocks are making 52-week highs Markets Closed
 image: Derek Leung/Stringer
Markets Today It was red nearly as far as the eye could see today as U.S. markets followed Europe and Asia into a sell-off. Every sector of the S&P 500 was negative today, although the pain was less in tech than it was in retail, financials, and energy. Tech stocks like Amazon and Netflix, both of which hit all-time highs again today, continue to climb as their businesses are flourishing in this lockdown.
Oil prices were mixed, but still at multi-year lows. Even gold sold off today as investors tired of its shine as a safety asset in these volatile times. Speaking of volatility, it was one of the only trades that was in the green today, spiking up from last week's slumber.
Economic news was foul as manufacturing and retail sales reports from March, which was open for business for the first half of the month, showed an absolute collapse in activity. April will be worse, but by May, some sectors of the economy might be allowed to return to work (more below). **Survey alert: We are running another survey of our U.S. newsletter readers to learn more about your views on these volatile markets and moves you may or may not be making in your portfolios. We do this because we think you are fascinating and wildly intelligent, and we like to put our finger on the pulse of individual investors like you to understand sentiment. We don't do anything creepy or untoward with the information you provide... I promise. If you would, please take this brief survey, and we'll let you know what we learn. Thanks!**
Headlines:
 Retail Sales No surprises here as U.S. retail sales plunged 8% in March. While food and beverage stores (about the only stores that are still open) saw sales spike 28% as we hoarded toilet paper, flour, and brown sugar, nearly every other category hit the sales cliff. Auto sales were particularly bad, as were clothing and clothing accessory stores.
Keep in mind, most stores didn't really close until mid-March, so this month's report is a foreshadowing of an even deeper plunge coming in April.
Here's a detailed list of the steep drop in sales by category, courtesy of Bespoke Investments:  When Can We Go Back to Work? As several countries in Asia and Europe slowly restart their industries, Americans are asking when we can go back to work and start to prime the economic pump again. There is a lot of pressure in Washington D.C. to restart various industries, despite the rising number of cases and fatalities still occurring across the country.
The Trump Administration is reportedly working on a plan to return some industries back to work, and they will reveal that in the coming days. It is likely to present a staggered plan wherein those industries and businesses that require less proximity between employees and customers will be allowed to return to work sooner.
You can probably come up with a good list of which industries that includes, but Goldman Sachs put some data science behind the question and came up with this handy chart. Bottom line, I won't be seeing my barber anytime soon.  These Stocks Are Making 52-week Highs As Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) have proven, there are companies that were made for this moment. Both of those stocks are at 52-week and all-time highs today. Other notable winners include Activision Blizzard (ATVI) as video games have become indispensable in this stay-at-home economy, and Walmart (WMT), of course. But Docusign (DOCU) has outshined them all, rising 80% in the past year. Docusign has always been a useful service, but with everyone working from home, it has become a necessity and a verb, like Zoom.
chart courtesy YCharts 
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(chart courtesy YCHARTS)  Shares of Carnival are up by nearly 9%; CEO Arnold Donald reported yesterday that, despite the debilitating effects of the ongoing outbreak, the cruise line's already received a substantial number of bookings for 2021. HCA Healthcare's stock price rose by almost 9%. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the HCA Healthcare Foundation recently announced its plan to donate $1 million to local community organizations dealing with the current pandemic.  Shares of oil companies, such as Devon Energy (6%) and Diamondback Energy (4%), are down following oil reaching its lowest level in more than 18 years. Boeing's stock price fell by 4% after it was determined that 196 of its orders for new aircrafts were canceled in the first quarter. Word of the Day Resistance, or a resistance level, is the price point at which the rise in the price of an asset is halted by the emergence of a growing number of sellers who wish to sell at that price. Resistance levels can be short-lived if new information comes to light that changes the overall market's attitude toward the asset, or they can be long-lasting. In terms of technical analysis, the simple resistance level can be charted by drawing a line along the highest highs for the time period being considered. Depending on price action, this line can be flat or slanted. There are, however, more advanced ways to identify resistance incorporating bands, trendlines, and moving averages.  image: McDonalds.com
Today in History April 14th, 1955: A middle-aged milkshake-mixer salesman named Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Ill. It racks up $366.12 in sales of 15-cent hamburgers and 10-cent french fries on the first day.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2020
In the Red Zone
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