Dow rises nearly 500 points a day after Fed’s surprise interest rate cut - MarketWatch

Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden greets restaurant patrons at Buttercup Diner in Oakland, Calif.

U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday after results of the Democratic party’s primary vote to nominate a presidential candidate in November’s election boosted the chances of former Vice President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday stocks had slumped when a rare emergency interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to inspire investor confidence in policymakers’ ability to counter the COVID-19 epidemic, the infectious disease that originated in Wuhan, China late last year.

How are major benchmarks performing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.21%  advanced 491 points, or 1.9%, to around 26,408. The S&P 500 SPX, +1.89%  rose 43 points, or 1.4%, to 3,047. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.71%  climbed 108 points, or 1.2%, to 8,792.

On Tuesday, the Dow finished 785.91 points lower, or 2.9%, to 25,917.41, after being down by as many as 997.04 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell 86.86 points, or 2.8%, to 3,003.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 268.07 points, or 3%, to end at 8,684.09.

What’s driving the market?

Some analysts were attributing the early gains for stock indexes to former Vice President Joe Biden’s victories during the Democratic primary contest on Tuesday.

“What if the real culprit behind the market’s weakness are the improved prospects of a fringe candidate winning the Democratic nomination, getting one-step closer to the White House,” wrote Jeff DeGraff, analyst at Renaissance Macro Research, in a Wednesday research note.

Biden’s string of Super Tuesday victories, winning 9 of 14 states including Texas, was seen as blunting the momentum of Bernie Sanders, a candidate that has been characterized by some on Wall Street as antibusiness. Analysts say Sanders’ agenda threatens to upend several industries including healthcare.

The bounceback in stocks on Wednesday came after the Fed jolted markets with a half-a-percentage-point rate cut on Tuesday, saying that while the economy’s fundamentals remain strong, the “coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity.” Investors now say other global central banks are likely to follow suit, with analysts pointing to the Bank of Canada as the next to pull the trigger on rate cuts.

The International Monetary Fund’s members called on the Washington-based international organization to provide available financing for countries dealing with the economic shock of the coronavirus. This comes a day after the World Bank pledged to deploy $12 billion of funds for such nations.

Stocks ended Tuesday with losses of about 3% and the 10-year Treasury note yield fell below 1% for the first time in a century and a half.

Some investors are now venturing back into the market, which has become more prone to wild swings amid the spread of COVID-19 epidemic.

“The magnitude of the market sell-off and the rapid policy reaction encouraged us to recently add to our risk positions” through additional exposure to U.S. high-yield credit versus high-quality bonds, Mark Haefele, UBS Wealth Management’s global chief investment officer, wrote in a note.

Read: Dalio said those who insured against coronavirus fallout could be ‘annihilated’

Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported private-sector employers added 183,000 jobs in February, coming days ahead of the closely watched U.S. Labor Department report on nonfarm payrolls, on Friday.

Looking ahead, investors will watch for a report on the U.S. service sector, with the closely followed ISM nonmanufacturing index for February coming out at 10 a.m. ET. The Beige Book is due at 2 p.m. , and may be parsed for fresh clues about the impact, if any, from the global coronavirus outbreak.

Which stocks are in focus?

• AT&T’s shares rose Wednesday, after the telecommunications and media company announced another $4 billion accelerated share repurchase program, starting in April.
• Shares of Navistar International Corp. NAV, +0.65% were indicated down slightly more than 1%Wednesday, after the commercial truck maker reported a bigger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss, but said it had received an unsolicited buyout bid during the quarter.
• Amazon.com Inc.’s shares ANF, +5.75%   may be in focus after an employee in Seattle tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an internal memo obtained by the Guardian newspaper and other media outlets.
• Abercrombie shares ANF, +5.75%   rallied after its earnings surpassed Wall Street expectations
• General Electric Co. shares GE, +0.14%   rose after the industrial conglomerate affirmed its 2020 outlook, but provided a downbeat first-quarter outlook due to the coronavirus impact.
• Healthcare companies were trading higher on Wednesday after Biden’s resurgence in the Democratic primaries, soothed concerns that Sanders would upend healthcare companies. UnitedHealth Group shares UNH, +9.68%   were up more than 10%.

How are other assets faring?

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, -2.04% was at 0.98%, one day after it made a historic yield move below 1%. Yields rise as prices fall.

Gold for April delivery GCJ20, -0.04% fell 0.2% to $1,641.10 an ounce, while CLJ20, +1.61% April crude futures gained 1.8% to trade at $48.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Cboe Volatility index VIX, -6.08%   was at 32.05, down 13%, the so-called VIX falls as stocks rise and is used as a gauge of implied volatility in the stock market. It’s historic average is around 19.

In Asia overnight, the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +0.63% gained 0.1% and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +0.08% rose 0.3%. The Kospi 180721, +2.24% in Seoul gained 2.1%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI, -0.24% edged down 0.2% while the S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -1.71% in Sydney tumbled 1.7%.

European markets were trading higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.92% advanced 1.5%, while the FTSE 100 FTSE, +0.02%  also added about 1%.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm1hcmtldHdhdGNoLmNvbS9zdG9yeS91cy1zdG9jay1mdXR1cmVzLWp1bXAtYWZ0ZXItdHVlc2RheXMtdHVybW9pbC1iaWRlbi12aWN0b3JpZXMtMjAyMC0wMy0wNNIBT2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm1hcmtldHdhdGNoLmNvbS9hbXAvc3RvcnkvZ3VpZC9FRTBCMjMzNC01RTAwLTExRUEtOUVCMS04NDg4NzJGMTM2Mzc?oc=5

2020-03-04 14:45:00Z
52780646806876

Bagikan Berita Ini