Tuesday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Jump To Extend Monday’s Rally, Oil Rises

Update: 12:05 p.m. EDT:

U.S. stocks traded higher as of Tuesday noon, but tapered off from earlier highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 632.91 points to 23,312.90, while the S&P 500 rose 61.67 points to 2,725.35 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 122.30 points to 8,035.53.

In Europe markets closed higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 jumped 2.19%, France’s CAC-40 rose 2.12% and Germany’s DAX gained 2.79%.

Original story:

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday after South Korea, China reported some positive developments on coronavirus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 887.78 points to 23,567.77, while the S&P 500 rose 88.46 points to 2,752.14 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 218.45 points to 8,131.69.

The rate of coronavirus infections and deaths may have peaked in South Korea and China. South Korea confirmed less than 50 new cases of infection for the second straight day. China recorded no new deaths on Monday for the first time since January.

In the U.S., President Donald Trump said on Monday there’s “tremendous light at the end of the tunnel’ with ten therapeutic agents in active trials.

“The apex [of virus cases] in New York state is likely imminent as opposed to one month out,” said Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan’s global head of macro quantitative and derivatives strategy. “Big data indicated very early on that social distancing is working overall.”

The U.S. now has more than 347,000 confirmed cases and has recorded at least 10,000 deaths.

“Investors chose to accentuate the positives, as they have been mostly doing since the bear-market low,” said Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. “In our opinion, we are in the midst of a Great Rebalancing away from bonds and into stocks. The bear market has most likely discounted a depression-like recession packed into [the second and third quarters]. It certainly hasn’t discounted the possibility of an actual apocalyptic depression lasting through at least 2021 and beyond. On the contrary, the market’s recent action suggests that investors are betting on an economic recovery starting during [the fourth quarter] and continuing through 2021.”

However, the U.S. stock market remains in a bear market, more than 20% below its record peak.

“We still believe that the odds are quite high that the lows from March will be retested and probably undercut before this bear market comes to an end,” Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said.

“Optimism on the direction of equity markets will be difficult to maintain until we see more clarity on the corporate earnings outlook and until the dispersion of analysts’ forecasts subsides,” wrote Marija Veitmane, a multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets.

Overnight in Asia, markets were higher. China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 2.05%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.12%, and Japan’s Nikkei-225 rose 2.01%.

In Europe markets traded higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 jumped 3.36%, France’s CAC-40 gained 3% and Germany’s DAX surged 3.89%.

Crude oil futures gained 1.11% at $26.37 per barrel, Brent crude rose 2.48% at $33.87. Gold futures edged up 0.05%.

The euro rose 1.07% at $1.0908 while the pound sterling gained 0.95% at $1.2347.