Stocks rallied on hopes that social distancing efforts are easing the coronavirus pandemic.
 | SAT, APR 11, 2020 | | | Stocks posted one their best weeks of all time with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 up more than 12% over the four-day trading week.
Most of the gains came Monday with what appeared to be a plateau in the number of new coronavirus cases - an indication that the peak of the pandemic could be near. Then on Thursday, the Federal Reserve announced it would come to the aid of small- to medium-sized businesses with a new $2.3 trillion funding program. The Fed even announced plans to buy exchange-traded funds that hold corporate junk bonds - indirectly backstopping companies with less-than-investment grade debts. Fred Imbert explains just exactly why the market's rebound has been so big and whether it can last.
For all of the week's optimism, the Dow remains down nearly 20% off its most recent high and the S&P is still down nearly 18%. And next week we'll get a new dose of reality when some big banks and large health care companies report earnings.
CNBC's Patti Domm writes that stock market investors might ignore whatever bad news comes from these reports, as they have looked past horrifying economic reports. On Thursday, we learned more than 16 million Americans filed jobless claims in just three weeks, but the market rallied anyway. Investors already expect the economic news to be bad, but they are drawing hope from the coronavirus numbers. "People are more interested in news about the spread of the virus than they are about the economic data," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. |
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