By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus on Tuesday, March 17th. Please refresh for updates.
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock was up 4.2% after the company said it will hire another 100,000 warehouse and delivery staff – increasing its workforce by some 12% - to deal with additional demand arising from the coronavirus outbreak.
- It will also raise wages by $2 an hour across the U.S. and Canada.
- Online retail is burgeoning as public health measures leave an increasing number of brick-and-mortar retailers without regular footfall.
- Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) stock was up 1.0% after the company said it will shut all its stores for two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak. Its online sales channel will remain open.
- The department store chain also pulled its guidance for the year, citing the extreme uncertainty over the business outlook. Nordstrom stock had already fallen 20% on Monday to its lowest since 2009.
- McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) stock was up 1.0% after the company said it may offer rent deferrals to franchisees struggling with collapsing sales as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
- The company also pulled its guidance for the year, saying it was impossible to gauge the length and scale of the disruption to its business.
- Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) stock was down 10.8% after Reuters reported that the shale oil and gas producer has appointed advisers for a potential debt restructuring.
- The company has around $9 billion in debt, and was struggling even before Saudi Arabia and Russia launched a de facto price war two weeks ago.