Stock futures trade cautiously as coronavirus social distancing guidelines extended to April 30
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says loans to small businesses will be available this week
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U.S. stock futures are trading cautiously after paring gains overnight, as efforts to contain the coronavirus remain a priority across the globe and as President Trump announced that social distancing guidelines will remain in place until April 30 at least.
Equity futures are searching for direction.
The move follows a volatile but positive week for the three major averages, which saw the Dow gain over 12.8 percent and exit its bear market on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 10.26 percent while the Nasdaq gained more than 9 percent.
In European markets, London's FTSE fell 1 percent, Germany's DAX declined 0.5 percent and France's CAC dropped 1 percent.
In Asian markets on Monday, Japan's Nikkei traded down 1.6 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.3 percent and China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.9 percent.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC. | 142.74 | +0.49 | +0.34% |
| FDX | FEDEX CORP. | 263.15 | +0.08 | +0.03% |
Trump, during his Sunday coronavirus task force briefing, thanked a number of corporations for aiding in the fight, including UPS and FedEx.
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"We appreciate everything you've done," said Trump of the delivery giants. He also noted some insurers including Humana and Cigna will begin to wave co-pays and deductibles.
HUMANA, CIGNA TO COVER ALL COVID-19 TREATMENT COSTS
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUM | HUMANA INC. | 324.83 | +1.37 | +0.42% |
| CI | THE CIGNA GROUP | 348.78 | +2.70 | +0.78% |
Speaking to "Fox News Sunday," Mnuchin said relief to small businesses would be available this coming week.
"The SBA is working very closely with the Treasury, we expect to have a program up on Friday that will be up and running that will cover half of the private workforce," he said. "I encourage all small businesses to take out these loans because if you go and hire back your workers for eight weeks you will have a forgivable loan and the government will pay for that. Again, it is very important for us that workers are protected" he noted.
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