Stock market closes quarter on lower noteDow -410.32 at 21917.22, Nasdaq -74.05 at 7699.45, S&P -42.06 at 2584.59 [BRIEFING.COM] The stock market ended the tumultuous first quarter in negative territory on Tuesday, while investors continued to assess the latest news on the coronavirus and the policies proposed to address its impact. The S&P 500 closed near session lows with a 1.6% decline after a brief stay in positive territory early in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.9%, the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.0%, and the Russell 2000 lost 0.5%. Notably, President Trump said a $2 trillion infrastructure bill should be included in the fourth part of a stimulus bill with U.S. interest rates near zero. Prior to the statement, Bloomberg reported that White House officials were looking into a $600 billion relief bill for mortgage markets, the travel industry, and state governments. There was another story from a Bloomberg reporter that President Trump approved a proposal pushed for by some businesses to delay payment of certain tariffs by 90 days. An announcement could come as soon as this week. Market reaction was muted, although shares of Caterpillar ($CAT 116.04, +4.33, +3.9%) likely benefited from the president's infrastructure proposal. Instead, quarter-end rebalancing contributed to the outperformance of the distressed energy sector (+1.6%) and, conversely, the sharp declines in the defensive-oriented utilities (-4.0%) and real estate (-3.3%) sectors. On the coronavirus front, NIAID Director Dr. Fauci said there have been "glimmers of hope" that social distancing is helping to curtail the spread of COVID-19, but the situation remained dire with the number of infections continuing to rise in the U.S. On a related note, Texas Governor Abbott issued a "stay at home" order until May 4. Separately, the Fed established a repurchase agreement facility as an alternative source for foreign central banks to temporarily exchange their U.S. Treasury securities for U.S. dollars. This was simply the latest "whatever it takes" action by the Fed to support financial markets. U.S. Treasuries had a relatively quiet day, ultimately closing mixed and little changed. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.20%, while the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 0.70%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.2% to 98.99. WTI crude increased 1.5% to $20.52/BBL, although it was up more than 8% in the session. Reviewing Tuesday's economic data: The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March dropped to 120.0 (Briefing.com consensus 110.0) from an upwardly revised 132.6 (from 130.7) for February. The March reading is the lowest since July 2017.The key takeaway from the report is that the downturn was not as bad as feared; however, the prevailing expectation is that consumer confidence will get much worse due to the impact of the coronavirus and its effect on consumer attitudes about job security and income growth prospects.The Chicago PMI decreased to 47.8 in March (Briefing.com consensus 40.0) from 49.0 in February.The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January increased 3.1% following an upwardly revised 2.8% increase in December (from +2.9%). Looking ahead, investors will receive the ISM Manufacturing Index for March, the ADP Employment Change Report for March, Construction Spending for February, the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, and auto and truck sales for March on Wednesday. Nasdaq Composite: -14.2%S&P 500: -20.0%Dow Jones Industrial Average: -23.2%Russell 2000: -31.0% Market Snapshot Dow21917.22-410.32(-1.84%)Nasdaq7699.45-74.05(-0.95%)SP 5002584.59-42.06(-1.60%)10-yr Note +4/320.686NYSEAdv 1293 Dec 1598 Vol 1.7 blnNasdaqAdv 1630 Dec 1642 Vol 4.0 bln Industry Watch Strong: EnergyWeak: Real Estate, Utilities Moving the Market -- Stocks falter on final day of quarter-- White House reportedly discussing plans for "phase four" relief bill; President Trump proposes $2 trillion infrastructure bill-- Fed creates temporary repurchase facility for foreign central banksECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to a three-year low of 120.0 from a 6-month high of 132.6 in February. The Case Shiller 20-city home price index dipped -0.04% in January to 218.6. The Chicago PMI fell 1.2 points to 47.8 in March. In China, the official March manufacturing and services indexes bounced from record lows in February, with the composite index improving too. The CFLP manufacturing index rebounded 16.3 points to 52.0, the services index rose 22.7 points to 52.3, and the composite index rose to 53.0 after falling 24.1 points in February to 28.9. Meanwhile, the latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 809,608 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 39,545 deaths due to the disease. TOP NEWS: Amazon ($AMZN) confirmed that it fired Chris Smalls, a fulfillment center employee who led the Staten Island warehouse strike, for violating its quarantine measures, including failing to abide by a 14-day quarantine required after being exposed to an employee with a confirmed case of COVID-19, Bloomberg's Josh Eidelson and Luke Kawa reported. In a statement Monday night in response to the news, New York State Attorney General Letitia James said it was "disgraceful that Amazon would terminate an employee who bravely stood up to protect himself and his colleagues." The Office of the Attorney General is "considering all legal options, and I am calling on the National Labor Relations Board to investigate this incident," James added. Carnival ($CCL) announced that it has commenced private offerings of $3B aggregate principal amount of first-priority senior secured notes due 2023, $1.75B aggregate principal amount of senior convertible notes due 2023, and commenced a $1.25B stock offering. After the news, Wells Fargo analyst Timothy Conder called the capital raise of $6B "needed" and "expected," adding that he hopes Royal Caribbean ($RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line ($NCLH) will also consider "proactive" equity raises. Shares of drugmaker Amarin ($AMRN) have lost 70% of their value after a federal judge ruled in favor of generic companies Dr. Reddy's ($RDY) and Hikma Pharmaceuticals ($HKMPF) in the patent litigation for its Vascepa capsule franchise. Following the news, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies downgraded Amarin to Neutral-equivalent ratings, while Citi analyst Joel Beatty called the legal defeat a "major negative" for the shares. Papa John's ($PZZA) issued the "second business update in the pizza space in the span of 18 hours" following Domino's Pizza's ($DPZ) own update last night, after which Stephens analyst James Rutherford said the updates affirm his view that "pizza names are the investor's safe haven during COVID-19." However, the shares are moving in different directions after the updates, with Domino's sliding 6% near noon and Papa John's trading 5.5% higher. General Motors ($GM) reported that it had launched a rapid-response project to produce masks at scale on Friday, March 20 and by next week expects to deliver its first 20,000 masks to frontline workers. Meanwhile, peer Ford (F), which has also pivoted to making medical supplies to help in the COVID-19 fight, announced that it is delaying the restart of production at its North America plants "to help protect its workers." MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Kiniksa ($KNSA), which rose 31% after it announced early evidence of treatment response with mavrilimumab. Also higher was MagnaChip ($MX), which gained 25% after it agreed to sell its Foundry Services Group and Fab 4 factory in Cheongju to a special purpose company for $435M. Among the notable losers was Delphi Technologies ($DLPH), which slid 21% after BorgWarner ($BWA) accused its of breaching their transaction agreement. BorgWarner was 2% higher near noon. Also lower were RH ($RH) and Cronos Group ($CRON), which fell a respective 11% and 10% after reporting quarterly results. Source: (Briefing.com)(theFly.com) Disclosure: I may trade in the ticker symbols mentioned, both long or short. My articles represent my personal opinion and analysis and should not be taken as investment advice. Readers should do their own research before making decisions to buy or sell securities. Trading and investing include risks, including loss of principal. If you liked this article, please click the LIKE (thumbs up) button. Feel free to leave any comments, question, or opinions. (Sign-up if you haven't already done so). Follow us/bookmark us and check back occasionally for additional articles or comments on our page... Wild Tiger Trading - start/main page.