The bulls are running on Wall Street again, but it may not be long before the coronavirus trips them up anew. Investors are betting that the just-passed stimulus measures will stave off the worst damage to the consumer-driven U.S. economy. The S&P 500 Index soared 6.2% Thursday, capping the fastest three-day advance for the stock-market gauge in about 90 years. After sliding into bear territory only last week, the market completed a breakneck round trip, surging more than 20% from its recent low. The gains came despite a report showing more than 3 million people in the U.S. sought jobless benefits last week, shattering previous records. The social-distancing campaign to curtail the spread of coronavirus has caused a range of businesses to shut down and lay off workers, and more dire employment data is expected in coming weeks. Whether the stimulus measures can quickly salve some of those wounds remains to be seen. What's more, investors have been abandoning other assets, suggesting tolerance for risk remains very low, and that any attempts to capture some stock gains could prove fleeting. U.S. investment-grade bond funds saw outflows of $38 billion last week, a record. And investors yanked $13.7 billion out of municipal-bond mutual funds in the past week, topping the record $12.2 billion exodus from just a week earlier.With the numbers of sick and dead expected to keep rising in the U.S., stocks could be subject to another volatile, headline-driven period. Then, the question will become what measures policy makers have left to try to limit the damage.—Tim Annett | 
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