• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
NewslettersBull Sheet

A fresh trillion in stimulus spending fails to lift the global markets

By
Bernhard Warner
Bernhard Warner
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Bernhard Warner
Bernhard Warner
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 24, 2020, 5:34 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.

Good morning, and Happy Friday. Stocks and oil are down. After yesterday’s rollercoaster ride, the markets look to end the week on a down note.

Let’s see what’s moving those markets.

Markets update

Asia

  • Asia indices are in the red, and falling, with Shanghai leading the way down.
  • The big focus is the apparent failed trial of Gilead Science‘s remdesivir, a hopeful drug candidate to fight Covid-19. Gilead shares tumbled 9% yesterday. That deflated yesterday’s U.S. market rally, and is sinking Asian shares today.

Europe

  • Europe opened with a thud, too. The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index was down 1.5% in early trade, wiping out yesterday’s gains.
  • The ECB Christine Lagarde warned EU leaders yesterday that the eurozone GDP could shrink by as much as 15% this year unless member states ready the proverbial bazooka.
  • On cue, the EU’s top pols endorsed a 540 billion-euro ($580 billion) plan to support the hardest-hit businesses and economies, but the divisions between the indebted South and their richer northern partners are vast. 
  • Lufthansa shares sank nearly 4% in early trade as Europe’s largest airline warned of a cash crunch and need for state aid.

U.S.

  • The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq sunk in afternoon trade on the Gilead bombshell, with only the Dow closing in positive territory. All three look set to open lower this morning.
  • President Trump promises to sign today at noon a House-passed coronavirus aid bill. It’s the fourth such rescue package. The quartet of aid adds up to nearly $3 trillion, or 15% of GDP.
  • This latest measure aims to give much needed relief to America’s small businesses who where shut out in round one. Fortune‘s Anne Sraders lays out what you need to know this time around.
  • Last night kicked off the NFL draft. Today, online sports betting operator, Draftkings, begins trading as a public company. The Nasdaq listing will trade under the symbol, DKNG.

Elsewhere

  • Gold is up.
  • As is the dollar.
  • Crude is down, as I type, with Brent futures sinking below $25/gallon.

By the Numbers

0.88. If you live in Michigan, you may have seen the price of gasoline is now under a buck at some gas stations around the state. The national price is a bit higher, standing at $1.79—for now. “We’re expecting to see prices to continue to decline,” says AAA, the automobile club. The price-at-the-pump collapse follows the historic crash in oil prices earlier this week. Typically, cheap gas is a boom for consumers, but the tumult in the oil markets—reminder: we hit negative oil on Monday—is having huge ripple effects across the global economy. This will be a jolt to oil-dependent emerging markets from Angola to Venezuela, and very likely become a big political issue in fracking country.

26.5 million. That’s how many workers in the United States have filed for unemployment benefits in the past five weeks. Yesterday’s tally of 4.4 million jobless claims filed was an improvement over previous weeks, but was more or less in line with economists’ estimates. The markets shrugged off the data as a flattening-the-curve success. But we’re still staring at a real unemployment rate of 20.6%, my colleague Lance Lambert calculates.

76.76. After two straight weeks of gains, the S&P 500 has fallen by nearly 76.76 points, or 2.7%, over the last four trading sessions. In a week where oil has plunged to historic depths, the economy has shed another 4.4 million jobs, and corporate earnings go from bad to worse, that’s not a bad performance. But the bulls won’t be happy.

Postscript

When I joined Fortune full-time last September, one of my first calls was to Adrian Croft. We had worked together at Reuters back in the day. While I toiled on the equities desk in London back then, Adrian was off on glamorous assignments. He was embedded with the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 while I was covering the collapse of the Big 5 music labels. I saw some great concerts; he saw history.

A true Fleet Street veteran, Adrian has great stories to tell. (Do yourself a favor and read his farewell note to colleagues when he retired from Reuters last year).

Adrian agreed to come out of retirement and write for us, on topics ranging from the Saudi-Russian price war, to king dollar, to the wolf in cashmere, Bernard Arnault. He also wrote the “Today’s reads” and is the genius behind “Market candy.”

He won’t be happy that I’m making such a fuss about him, but I just wanted to thank him publicly for all his help these past few months. Today is his last day on BS duty.

I’m sure we’ll work together again some day. The gods of journalism wouldn’t want it any other way.

All the best, my friend.

***

Have a nice weekend, everyone. I’ll see you here on Monday.

Correction: yesterday’s Bull Sheet contained a misspelling. It should have read, “Okun’s Law.”

Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com

Looking for more detail on coronavirus? Fortune has a new pop-up newsletter. The aptly named Outbreak will keep you up to date on the latest news surrounding the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on business and commerce globally. Sign up here.

And, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.

Today's reads

Why it's better to be unemployed in Europe. Unlike in the United States, where 26.5 million workers have filed jobless claims in five weeks, millions of idled workers in Europe are being kept on company payrolls while governments pick up the tab. The schemes vary widely in generosity, with the Dutch paying up to €9,538 ($10,371) of an employee's gross monthly wages while the Italian government will cover up to €1,129, Fortune details.

Pandemic pay-day. The combined wealth of America’s billionaires, including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, grew by nearly 10% over a three-week period in March and April during which 22 million Americans lost their jobs, a U.S. thinktank, the Institute for Policy Studies, said. Since the start of the year, eight U.S. billionaires, including Bezos, Musk and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, have seen their fortunes swell by over $1 billion each.

The not so great reopening. Car dealerships are starting to reopen across Germany in an easing of the coronavirus lockdown. Fortune's David Meyer found there’s only one problem: customers. Germany’s near-empty car showrooms highlight the plight businesses face even when they are allowed to reopen—customer confidence around Europe is desperately low as the scale of the economic fallout from the pandemic becomes ever more apparent and amid uncertainty over whether infections have peaked.

Market candy

“I really screwed up.”

That's the admission of Yngve Slyngstad, the outgoing chief executive of Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund. In a memo to staff, he apologized for straying from compliance rules in accepting a flight from the hedge fund manager set to replace him, Bloomberg reports. Central bank authorities are now investigating him for that free flight, and the matter has become a national scandal in Norway.

 

About the Author
By Bernhard Warner
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Newsletters

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Newsletters

Kim Ng broke barriers in baseball. Now she’s giving pro softball its biggest stage yet
NewslettersMPW Daily
Kim Ng broke barriers in baseball. Now she’s giving pro softball its biggest stage yet
By Emma HinchliffeJuly 24, 2026
19 hours ago
Inside Larry Culp’s playbook for fixing GE
NewslettersCFO Daily
Inside Larry Culp’s playbook for fixing GE
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 24, 2026
24 hours ago
Three people sitting on stairs
Startups & VentureTerm Sheet
Neo raises $100 million to hunt the zombie AI agents haunting your company
By Amanda GerutJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) during the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
An ‘AI Kill Switch Act,’ engaged
By Andrew NuscaJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
Photo: President Trump.
NewslettersMarkets
Trump weighs ‘massive attack’ on Iran as Tehran’s chokehold on oil gets tighter
By Jim EdwardsJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
From near-collapse to $689 billion: Inside Larry Culp’s turnaround of GE
NewslettersCEO Daily
From near-collapse to $689 billion: Inside Larry Culp’s turnaround of GE
By Shawn TullyJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
Economy
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
By Eleanor PringleJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
3 days ago
Current price of silver as of Friday, July 24, 2025
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Friday, July 24, 2025
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.