U.S. stocks rebounded from an early fall Tuesday, then sank again, after the Federal Reserve made an emergency rate cut to help support the economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Coming off Wall Street’s worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, the Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 1,300 points, closing up 5.1%, its largest percentage gain since March 2009.
Big technology companies like Apple are still among the most vulnerable due to disruptions in supply chains and business closures in China, but the sector led the way higher Monday.
The market clawed back much of its intraday losses in the last 15 minutes of trading. Bond prices soared as investors sought safety, pushing yields to record lows.
U.S. stock markets saw more major declines Friday morning. Traders have been growing increasingly certain that the Federal Reserve will be forced to cut interest rates to protect the economy, and soon.
The three major U.S. stock indexes now are in correction territory, a 10% reversal from recent highs.
The benchmark S&P 500 has lost 7.6% over the last four days, its worst such stretch since the end of 2018. Tuesday also marked the first back-to-back 3% losses for the index since summer 2015.
The selling wiped out all of the Dow Jones industrial average’s gains for the year. The major U.S. stock indexes all fell more than 3%.
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped more than 3% and gave up all of its gains for the year as a surge in virus cases and a worrisome spread of the disease outside the epicenter in China sent investors running for safety.
The biggest takeover by a major U.S. bank since the 2008 financial crisis combines Morgan Stanley’s prowess and client-facing resources with E-Trade’s more than 5 million customers.
Health experts don’t know how far the virus will spread and how bad the crisis will get, yet stocks are rallying as if investors are expecting no more than a modest hit to the global economy.
Technology companies and banks led a broad rally for U.S. stocks in midday trading Tuesday following solid gains overseas as China took more steps to soften the financial impact of the virus outbreak.
Technology companies led U.S. stocks higher in midday trading Monday as global markets mostly calmed down following a sharp sell-off last week over worries about the spreading virus outbreak in China.
China’s central bank announced plans Sunday to inject 1.2 trillion yuan (about $173 billion) into the economy to cushion the shock to financial markets from the outbreak of the new virus when trading resumes Monday.
Buffett is a lifelong fan of newspapers but he has said for several years that he expects most of them to continue on their declining trajectory, save for a handful of national papers.
Chinese health authorities have confirmed 2,750 cases of the coronavirus along with 81 related deaths as authorities extended a week-long public holiday by an extra three days as a precaution against having the virus spread still further.
The milestones came on a day when the market traded in a narrow range as investors weighed the latest batch of corporate earnings reports and the signing of an initial trade deal between the U.S. and China.
Investors couldn’t have asked for much more in 2019, as the decade-long economic expansion rolled on. But don’t expect the same in 2020, analysts warn.
Over the last decade, years, the S&P 500 returned more than 13% on an annualized basis. A gain less than half of that may be more likely, both for next year and annually for the coming decade.
A statement on monetary policy in January helped set the tone for a year in which the stock market responded to every downturn with a more sustained upswing.
