S&P 500 ends roller-coaster session lower, but ekes out gain for the week; European stocks close higher as investors monitor coronavirus developments; Wirecard down another 35%; BELEX15 extends losses
Stocks finished Friday lower, after swinging wildly throughout the session due to technical factors. A number of headlines also raised concern about a resurgence in the coronavirus and a slowdown in the economy’s recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 208.64 points, or 0.8%, at 25,871.46, after gaining as much as 371 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 traded 0.5% lower, or 17.42 points, at 3,097.92, after dropping 1.0% at one point. The Nasdaq Composite finished the session just 3.07 points higher at 9,946.12.
Stocks started the day with strong gains after a report by Bloomberg News said that China was set to up its purchases of U.S. farm products to comply with the phase-one trade deal. The report eased concerns about U.S.-China trade relations as the two countries exchange heated rhetoric regarding the coronavirus.

European markets closed higher on Friday afternoon as investors remained focused on new coronavirus spikes, economic data and the European Union’s proposed fiscal stimulus.
The 27 European Union governments kicked off negotiations Friday over a proposal for a 750 billion euro ($841 billion) recovery fund to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, but the stimulus plan has caused some division among EU member states.
Germany’s Wirecard saw its plummeting stock recover slightly after the resignation on Friday of CEO Markus Braun, but ended the session more than 35% lower. The payments company’s stock had plunged 60% on Thursday after auditor EY refused to sign off on its 2019 full-year accounts due to a missing $2.1 billion, and Wirecard said it may have fallen victim to “fraud of significant proportions.”

Friday was the seventh day in with uninterrupted declining trend for BELEX15. The index lost additional 0.6% on a daily basis, as Komercijana, NIS and Belgrade Airport were under sell pressure. However, Galenika Fitofarmacija was the most traded, with RSD 1.5m in volume, which is also very poor in terms of absolute numbers, while all other including NIS, AERO and KMBN saw only symbolic trading activity.
According to the latest statement from NBS, Serbia is not under debt crisis threat nor is stagflation expected, as a consequence of COVD crisis, the vice governor Ana Ivkovic said.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika