10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Here's what you need to know before the markets open.
1. 'Shrugging off the pessimism': Stocks rally on early signs that lockdowns are working against coronavirus. Global stocks surged on Monday as investors cheered declines in daily death tolls in Italy, Spain, and France.
2. Oil prices slump after Saudi Arabia and Russia delay talks to end their price war. Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude slid by more than 3% in morning trading.
3. A hedge fund made a 40% gain by calling the coronavirus sell-off and shorting stocks. "It was clear the market was under-pricing the impact of Covid-19," Dymon Asia Capital's boss told Bloomberg.
4. YouTube will delete videos that falsely link 5G to the novel coronavirus after reports of people setting phone masts on fire. The online-video titan is taking action to combat the conspiracy.
5. Apple has begun designing and producing face shields to protect health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The tech titan's CEO, Tim Cook, made the announcement via Twitter on Sunday.
6. JPMorgan announces coronavirus relief package for customers. The bank will extend benefits to customers such as waivers for late fees and a 90-day grace period for mortgage and auto loan payments.
7. Lufthansa's Belgian carrier suspends flights until mid-May. The airline had previously grounded flights until April 19 but said it was extending that by four weeks because of "low to no demand."
8. Stocks are up. In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 4.5%, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 2%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 3.8%. In Asia, mainland China's markets were closed for a public holiday while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.2%, and Japan's Nikkei rose 4.2%. In the US, futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were up by 3.6% to 3.7%.
9. Earnings keep coming. Japanese furniture company Nitori Holdings and PT Unilever Indonesia will be announcing fourth-quarter results.
10. Eyes will be on bond markets. The three-month and six-month bill auctions should provide some insight into the state of US government debt.