Stock market live updates: Dow drops 700, coronavirus cases jumping, Hertz pops 100%

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Market losses accelerated to their lows of the session around 11 a.m. after Florida confirmed its Covid-19 cases jumped by 5,508 on Tuesday, a new record. The state also said its positivity rate rose to 15.91% from 10.82% and total cases in Florida now sum to 109,014. The Dow swooned more than 650 points (about 2.5%) following the announcement while the S&P 500 traded down 2.3%. The Nasdaq Composite, the relative leader, lost 2%. — Franck

Shares of bankrupt car rental company Hertz spiked again on Wednesday, at one point rising by more than 100%. The stock, which closed at $1.24 per share on Tuesday, hit $2.49 per share on Wednesday. Shortly after 11 a.m., the stock was trading at $2.09 per share, representing a leap of 69%. The stock had been trending down in less-volatile trading in recent sessions. —Pound

Shares of Disney fell 3% to its low of the day after its theme park workers urged to postpone the reopening amid the rise in new coronavirus cases in Florida. More than 7,200 workers have signed a petition asking Disney and government officials to delay the Disney World reopening next month. “This virus is not gone, unfortunately it’s only become worse in this state,” the petition posted on MoveOn.org said. CNBC could not verify the names on the petition were Disney park employees. Last month, Disney proposed a phased reopening of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on July 11, while Epcot and Hollywood Studios would reopen on July 15. –Li

• Cowen upgraded Dick’s Sporting Goods to outperform from market perform.
• Barclays raised its price target on PayPal to $199 from $169.
• DA Davidson upgraded Columbia Sportswear to buy from neutral.
• Oppenheimer initiated Baxter as outperform.
• Citi upgraded Clear Channel to buy from neutral.
• Deutsche Bank raised its price target on Square to $120 from $80.
• BTIG downgraded PayPal to neutral from buy.
• JPMorgan downgraded Cheesecake Factory to underweight from neutral.
• Wedbush downgraded Nintendo to neutral from outperform.
• DA Davidson upgraded Morgan Stanley to buy from neutral.
• Barclays downgraded Royal Caribbean and Norwegian to equal weight from overweight.
• Goldman Sachs raised its price target on Alphabet to $1,775 from $1,425.

Pro Subscribers read more here.— Bloom

The market sell-off deepened in morning trading with the 30-stock Dow falling about 400 points. The S&P 500 dropped about 1.3%, while the Nasdaq dipped 0.9%. Big technology shares, which opened higher, are now in the negative territory. Netflix traded 0.5% lower, and Facebook fell 2.2%. Amazon is down 0.3% after hitting a record earlier in the session. –Li

Shares of Amazon gained 0.2% to an intraday record of $2,796.00 in morning trading. The e-commence giant has soared nearly 50% this year amid a surge in demand. The stock last traded down 0.4%. —Li

The Dow dropped 220 points, or 0.9%, at the open as investors grew concerned over the rising number of coronavirus cases. The S&P 500 dipped 0.7% and the Nasdaq slid 0.3%. If the Nasdaq ends the day lower, it will be its first daily decline in nine sessions. —Imbert

CNBC’s David Faber reported Dell Technologies is exploring its options with regards to its massive stake in VMWare, confirming earlier reports from the Wall Street Journal. Faber reported, citing sources, that a sale or a spinoff of the VMWare stake can’t happen until after September 2021. Dell shares were up more than 11% in the premarket. —Imbert

The International Monetary Fund projected that the contraction in the global economy will be worse than previously feared, shrinking 4.9% in 2020. Previous projections called for a 3% decline. The Fund also lowered growth projections in 2021, saying the global economy will expand 5.4%, down from 5.8%. —Pound, Amaro

Shares of companies that would benefit from the economy reopening were under pressure on Wednesday amid a spike in coronavirus cases. United Airlines slid 3.8% in the premarket. Delta, American and Southwest fell more than 2% each. Cruise stocks such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean were down at least 4.1%. Gap shares dropped 2.2%. —Imbert

Oil moved lower on Wednesday as fears of a second wave of Covid-19 cases, and what it could mean for oil demand, weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, slipped 2.1%, or 85 cents, to trade at $39.52 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude shed 77 cents, or 1.8%, to trade at $41.86. Rystad Energy’s Paola Rodriguez Masiu also pointed to building stockpiles as reason for the pullback in prices. “If the pandemic triggers a second round of lockdowns, storages will struggle to accommodate the unused oil and the gasoline uptick that we currently see will be scrapped if new travel restrictions are put in place,” she said. On Monday WTI closed above the key $40 level for the first time since early March. –Stevens

The U.S. Trade Representative is eyeing new tariffs on $3.1 billion of exports from France, Germany, Spain and the U.K., according to a notice released Tuesday evening. The products subject to the new duties include olives, beer, gin and trucks, and the tariff can be up to 100%, the statement said. The U.S. also wants to increase existing tariffs on products including aircrafts, cheese and yogurt by 15% to 25%. –Li

Shares of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line dropped more than 4% during Wednesday’s premarket trading following a downgrade from Barclays. These stocks have been popular with retail investors, who’ve piled into the names at record pace and sent shares soaring nearly 30% in the last month. But Barclays said that cruise line companies face a “murky path” ahead.

CNBC PRO subscribers can read more here. —Stevens

Gold prices rose to their highest level in nearly eight years as a resurgence in coronavirus cases pushed investors into the safe haven. Spot gold prices climbed 0.5% to $1,774.53 per ounce, having earlier hit their highest since October 2012 at $1,779.06. U.S. gold futures gained 0.4% to $1,789.60. The U.S. reported upward of 31,000 new coroavirus cases on Monday, sending the nation’s seven-day average up more than 30% from a week ago, according data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The precious metal is seen as a safe haven during time of economic uncertainty. –Fitzgerald

Shares of Dell have risen more than 14% in extended trading after the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night that the tech company was considering options for its stake in VMware. Dell owns roughly 81% of the company, and is considering buying out the minority stake or selling its position, according to the report. Dell’s stake is worth about $50 billion. VMware shares rose more than 8% in premarket trading. —Pound

The U.S. added more than 31,000 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, sending the nation’s seven-day average up more than 30% from a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Texas, Arizona and California are among the states that have seen a dramatic increase in cases over the past few weeks as they started reopening their economies. California saw a massive jump in its daily report of positive cases on Monday, adding 6,219 new cases, while 3,110 people are currently hospitalized in Texas based on a seven-day moving average, a 43% increase compared with a week ago, according to Covid Tracking Project data. –Li, Jasmine Kim

U.S. stock futures were under pressure Wednesday as investors grew concerned about the rising number of coronavirus cases. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded more than 200 points lower, or 0.9%. S&P 500 futures slid 0.8% while Nasdaq-100 futures were off by 0.5%. Those losses put the tech-heavy Nasdaq — which notched a record high on Tuesday — on track to post its first loss in nine sessions. —Imbert

—With reporting from Michael Bloom, Maggie Fitzgerald, Thomas Franck, Jasmine Kim and Pippa Stevens.

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