The Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that construction spending fell 1.3 percent m-o-m in February after a revised 2.8 percent m-o-m surge in January (originally a 1.8 percent m-o-m jump). This was the biggest monthly drop in construction spending since October 2018.
Economists had forecast construction spending increasing 0.5 percent m-o-m in February.
According to the report, spending on private construction decreased 1.2 percent m-o-m, while investment in public construction fell 1.5 percent m-o-m.
On a y-o-y basis, construction spending jumped 6.0 percent in February.
U.S. stock-index futures plunged on Wednesday, as the White House's dire coronavirus death projections and worsened expectations of economic damage from the pandemic forced investors to sell equities and buy safe-haven assets.
Global Stocks:
| Index/commodity | Last | Today's Change, points | Today's Change, % |
| Nikkei | 18,065.41 | -851.60 | -4.50% |
| Hang Seng | 23,085.79 | -517.69 | -2.19% |
| Shanghai | 2,734.52 | -15.77 | -0.57% |
| S&P/ASX | 5,258.60 | +181.80 | +3.58% |
| FTSE | 5,458.28 | -213.68 | -3.77% |
| CAC | 4,216.77 | -179.35 | -4.08% |
| DAX | 9,537.00 | -398.84 | -4.01% |
| Crude oil | $20.27 | | -1.03% |
| Gold | $1,597.90 | | +0.08% |
(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)
| 3M Co | MMM | 132.8 | -3.71(-2.72%) | 12663 |
| ALCOA INC. | AA | 5.95 | -0.21(-3.41%) | 34663 |
| ALTRIA GROUP INC. | MO | 37.39 | -1.28(-3.31%) | 19465 |
| Amazon.com Inc., NASDAQ | AMZN | 1,923.64 | -26.08(-1.34%) | 48124 |
| American Express Co | AXP | 82 | -3.61(-4.22%) | 21472 |
| AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP | AIG | 23 | -1.25(-5.15%) | 4019 |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL | 246.88 | -7.41(-2.91%) | 506116 |
| AT&T Inc | T | 28.17 | -0.98(-3.36%) | 366229 |
| Boeing Co | BA | 140.24 | -8.90(-5.97%) | 535518 |
| Caterpillar Inc | CAT | 112.15 | -3.89(-3.35%) | 33690 |
| Chevron Corp | CVX | 70.25 | -2.21(-3.05%) | 45986 |
| Cisco Systems Inc | CSCO | 37.9 | -1.41(-3.59%) | 75662 |
| Citigroup Inc., NYSE | C | 39.85 | -2.27(-5.39%) | 92578 |
| Deere & Company, NYSE | DE | 135 | -3.16(-2.29%) | 1048 |
| E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co | DD | 33.09 | -1.01(-2.96%) | 3499 |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM | 37.07 | -0.90(-2.37%) | 127354 |
| Facebook, Inc. | FB | 161.89 | -4.91(-2.94%) | 104888 |
| FedEx Corporation, NYSE | FDX | 116.8 | -4.46(-3.68%) | 1207 |
| Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., NYSE | FCX | 6.33 | -0.42(-6.22%) | 88543 |
| Ford Motor Co. | F | 4.65 | -0.18(-3.73%) | 488525 |
| General Electric Co | GE | 7.56 | -0.38(-4.79%) | 766294 |
| General Motors Company, NYSE | GM | 19.75 | -1.03(-4.96%) | 58994 |
| Goldman Sachs | GS | 148 | -6.59(-4.26%) | 18446 |
| Google Inc. | GOOG | 1,125.00 | -37.81(-3.25%) | 10049 |
| Hewlett-Packard Co. | HPQ | 16.52 | -0.84(-4.84%) | 10072 |
| Home Depot Inc | HD | 179.03 | -7.68(-4.11%) | 27726 |
| HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. | HON | 128.01 | -5.78(-4.32%) | 3722 |
| Intel Corp | INTC | 52.34 | -1.78(-3.29%) | 90503 |
| International Business Machines Co... | IBM | 107.4 | -3.53(-3.18%) | 14260 |
| International Paper Company | IP | 29.5 | -1.63(-5.24%) | 478 |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 128.1 | -3.03(-2.31%) | 31364 |
| JPMorgan Chase and Co | JPM | 86.12 | -3.91(-4.34%) | 114710 |
| McDonald's Corp | MCD | 160.05 | -5.30(-3.21%) | 11395 |
| Merck & Co Inc | MRK | 75.17 | -1.77(-2.30%) | 6867 |
| Microsoft Corp | MSFT | 153.51 | -4.20(-2.66%) | 513226 |
| Nike | NKE | 80.25 | -2.49(-3.01%) | 134140 |
| Pfizer Inc | PFE | 31.82 | -0.82(-2.51%) | 19673 |
| Procter & Gamble Co | PG | 107.9 | -2.10(-1.91%) | 18592 |
| Starbucks Corporation, NASDAQ | SBUX | 63.3 | -2.44(-3.71%) | 43331 |
| Tesla Motors, Inc., NASDAQ | TSLA | 503.5 | -20.50(-3.91%) | 305597 |
| The Coca-Cola Co | KO | 43.2 | -1.05(-2.37%) | 48014 |
| Travelers Companies Inc | TRV | 94.01 | -5.34(-5.37%) | 1606 |
| Twitter, Inc., NYSE | TWTR | 23.85 | -0.71(-2.89%) | 57678 |
| United Technologies Corp | UTX | 89 | -5.33(-5.65%) | 18993 |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc | UNH | 238.26 | -11.12(-4.46%) | 4273 |
| Verizon Communications Inc | VZ | 52.88 | -0.85(-1.58%) | 56636 |
| Visa | V | 155 | -6.12(-3.80%) | 90912 |
| Wal-Mart Stores Inc | WMT | 111.92 | -1.70(-1.50%) | 23458 |
| Walt Disney Co | DIS | 93.6 | -3.00(-3.11%) | 220620 |
| Yandex N.V., NASDAQ | YNDX | 33.45 | -0.60(-1.76%) | 5725 |
Altria (MO) resumed with a Neutral at Goldman; target $35
Coca-Cola (KO) resumed with a Neutral at Goldman; target $46
AT&T (T) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; target lowered to $35
Citigroup (C) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette
Verizon (VZ) added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette
| Index | Change, points | Closed | Change, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIKKEI 225 | -167.96 | 18917.01 | -0.88 |
| Hang Seng | 428.37 | 23603.48 | 1.85 |
| KOSPI | 37.52 | 1754.64 | 2.19 |
| ASX 200 | -104.6 | 5076.8 | -2.02 |
| FTSE 100 | 108.22 | 5671.96 | 1.95 |
| DAX | 119.87 | 9935.84 | 1.22 |
| CAC 40 | 17.61 | 4396.12 | 0.4 |
| Dow Jones | -410.32 | 21917.16 | -1.84 |
| S&P 500 | -42.06 | 2584.59 | -1.6 |
| NASDAQ Composite | -74.05 | 7700.1 | -0.95 |