Stocks rebound after Biden surges in "Super Tuesday" voting Stocks were higher from the outset of trading following former Vice President Joe Biden's strong showing last night in the Democratic primary voting held in 14 states. The market, which continues to also contend with a non-stop flow of coronavirus headlines, seems to be taking solace in the surge of the former VP, who is seen as much more friendly to stocks than his main contender for the nomination, Bernie Sanders. Billionaire former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the race following the "Super Tuesday" results, leaving the nomination race to Biden, Sanders and the fading Elizabeth Warren. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., ADP reported private payrolls increased 183,000 in February. Markit's services PMI was flat at 49.4 in the final February print, matching the preliminary reading. The ISM services reading increased 1.8 points to 57.3 in February, which was much better than forecast. In coronavirus news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it providing conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations under the federal securities laws, as the impacts of the virus may present challenges to certain companies that are required to provide information to trading markets and shareholders. The SEC said it would allow 45 extra days to file certain disclosure reports. Outside the U.S., Italy and the U.A.E. each shut down their schools over the coronavirus outbreak. In Federal Reserve news, the Fed said in its latest Beige Book that economic activity expanded at a "modest to moderate" rate over the past several weeks and that employment increased at a slight to moderate pace. The Fed cited coronavirus and the U.S. presidential election as potential economic risks in its Beige Book. TOP NEWS: General Electric ($GE) reaffirmed its outlook for fiscal 2020 and provided earnings guidance for the first quarter, noting that it is "closely monitoring" the coronavirus outbreak as an "evolving variable." The company said during the call that its outlook assumes that the Boeing ($BA) 737 MAX will return to service in mid-2020 and that any further impact from coronavirus has not been incorporated into guidance beyond Q1. Meanwhile, shares of managed care organizations and hospital stocks rose after former Vice President Joe Biden achieved primary victories across the South, Midwest, and New England on "Supet Tuesday." Biden won nine of 14 states yesterday, including Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is a leading proponent of "Medicare for All," rolled to victories in Colorado, Utah, Vermont, and California. The former vice president's comeback has sent managed care organization and hospital stocks like Anthem ($ANTM), Centene ($CNC), CVS Health ($CVS), Humana ($HUM), Molina Healthcare ($MOH), UnitedHealth ($UNH), Community Health ($CYH), and Tenet ($THC) higher. On the earnings front, HP Enterprise ($HPE) shares slid 2.6% after the company reported lower than expected revenue for the first quarter and reaffirmed its fiscal 2020 earnings outlook. Of note, CFO Tarek Robbiati said that revenue is unlikely to grow in fiscal 2020. United Airlines ($UAL) said it will cut international flights by 20% and domestic flights by 10% in April due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Additionally, Uber ($UBER) shares rose 4.5% following the company's presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. The company said during the conference that it still sees EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter of this year and that, should coronavirus turn out to be a crisis, the company is "in a far better position than any other company" in the sector. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Meet Group ($MEET), which jumped 23.1% after Reuters reported that ProSieben's NuCom unit is near a deal to acquire Meet Group that could value the dating app developer at over $500M. Also higher were Benefitfocus ($BNFT) and Abercrombie & Fitch ($ANF), which gained a respective 6.8% and 9% afte reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Health Insurance Innovations ($HIIQ), which fell 8.6% after it reported quarterly results, said it is still exploring strategic alternatives, and announced it will change its name to Benefytt Technologies. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Cardlytics ($CDLX) and Owens & Minor ($OMI), which declined 36.7% and 10.4%, respectively. Health Care Paces Midweek Bounce 04-Mar-20Dow +1173.45 at 27090.86, Nasdaq +334.00 at 9018.09, S&P +126.75 at 3130.12 [BRIEFING.COM] The stock market rallied on Wednesday with the Dow (+4.5%), Nasdaq (+3.9%), and S&P 500 (+4.2%) erasing their losses from Tuesday. Equities benefited from a general improvement in sentiment, which was reflected by a mixed stock session in Asia and gains in European markets. That provided significant encouragement for U.S. equities even though there was no improvement on the coronavirus front. On the contrary, Italy's Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, warned that Italy's health care system, which is among the best in the world, is on the verge of being overwhelmed while sporting events will be conducted without fans through April 3. Once again, the Treasury market did not share the optimism of the stock market, though midday action saw Treasuries back down from their highs as equities rallied to best levels of the day. The long bond recorded a slight loss, lifting its yield by a basis point to 1.64%, while the 10-yr note and shorter tenors finished in the green. The 10-yr yield slipped another two basis points to 0.99% while the 2-yr yield fell nine basis points to 0.63%. All eleven sectors finished with gains of 2.0% or more while six groups added more than 4.0%. While the rally produced big gains, there was a defensive quality to it. The health care sector (+5.8%) held the lead throughout the day thanks to big gains in insurer stocks after Joe Biden won the bulk of yesterday's primaries, seizing the delegate count lead from Bernie Sanders, who favors nationalizing the health insurance industry. Health care was followed by higher yielding groups like utilities (+5.7%) and consumer staples (+4.9%) while the top-weighted technology sector (+4.3%) finished just ahead of the broader market. Chipmakers had a particularly strong showing, as the PHLX Semiconductor Index jumped 4.9% with all 30 components ending in the green. Stocks extended their rally in the afternoon, which helped battered airline shares climb out of the red after American Airlines ($AAL 18.52, +0.67, +3.8%), JetBlue Airways ($JBLU 15.54, +0.53, +3.5%), and United Airlines ($UAL 59.47, +1.18, +2.0%) hit fresh multi-year lows. Falling demand for travel prompted United Airlines to reduce its domestic routes for April by 10% while international service will be reduced by 20%. The energy sector (+2.2%) was the weakest performer as crude oil slid $0.46, or 1.0%, to $46.77/BBL. Congress is expected to approve $7.80 bln in emergency spending on efforts to counter the outbreak of the coronavirus. Reviewing today's economic data: The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for February registered a 57.3% reading (Briefing.com consensus 54.8%) versus 55.5% in January. The February reading is the highest reading for the index since February 2019The key takeaway from the report is that the February number is encouraging in its own right, but with the coronavirus caseload rising in the U.S. and the public's attention to containing it increasing, doubts are festering that the strength can be sustainedThe ADP Employment Change report pointed to the addition of 183,000 nonfarm payrolls in February (Briefing.com consensus 165,000) while the January reading was revised down to 209,000 from 291,000The weekly MBA Mortgage Index spiked 15.1% to follow last week's 1.5% increase. The Refinance Index spiked 26.0% while the Purchase Index fell 2.7%The Federal Reserve's March Beige Book noted that activity expanded at a modest to moderate pace during the survey period, though St. Louis and Kansas City reported no growth. Consumer spending increased, but in uneven fashion. There was no significant growth in tourism with early indications of reduced activity due to the coronavirus Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 215,000; prior 219,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.724 mln), revised Q4 Productivity (Briefing.com consensus 1.3%; prior 1.4%), and revised Q4 Unit Labor Costs (Briefing.com consensus 1.4%; prior 1.4%) will be reported at 8:30 ET tomorrow, followed by January Factor Orders (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%; prior 1.8%) at 10:00 ET. Nasdaq Composite +0.5% YTDS&P 500 -3.1% YTDDow Jones Industrial Average -5.1% YTDRussell 2000 -8.2% YTD Market Snapshot Dow27090.86+1173.45(4.53%)Nasdaq9018.09+334.00(3.85%)SP 5003130.12+126.75(4.22%)10-yr Note -2/320.992NYSEAdv 2411 Dec 416 Vol 1.23 blnNasdaqAdv 2500 Dec 718 Vol 3.55 bln Industry Watch Strong: Health Care, Utilities, Real Estate, Consumer Staples, TechnologyWeak: Financials, Energy Moving the Market Health insurers boosted after Joe Biden wins most of last night's Democratic primariesTreasuries remain bid despite gains in stocks