Stock Market Today: Live Updates and Coverage

Clorox and a handful of retail stocks are up.

Not everything is getting clobbered, and the stocks that are rising Monday also have a story to tell.

Among the handful of companies in the SP 500 to climb on Monday is Clorox, the maker of disinfecting cleaners and wipes. Up almost 1 percent, the stock hit its highest level ever.

And two low-cost retailers that are inching higher also reflect worry, but in their case it might be about the economy: Dollar General was up about 0.6 percent, Dollar Tree was up more than 4 percent.

The last time the United States fell into a recession, all three fared well as consumers focused on finding bargains and discounts and turned to retailers known for offering them.

White House invites Wall Street to Washington.

The White House has invited top Wall Street executives to a meeting in Washington on Wednesday, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to wreak havoc on markets and sow economic anxiety, according to an official.

The meeting is expected to involve executives from big banks and senior administration officials, many of whom are scrambling to find ways to contain the economic fallout from the virus. It is not clear yet whether President Trump will attend.

While the meeting is expected to be purely a discussion, it is reminiscent of a similar moment in 2008, when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chair Ben S. Bernanke and others summoned bank leaders to Washington and told them they would need to take a total of $125 billion worth of capital injections to shore up confidence in the banking sector.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/business/stock-market-today.html