Tuesday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Surge On Hopes For Stimulus Package

Update: 12:05 p.m. EDT:

U.S. stocks surged at noon on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,654.66 points to 20,246.59, while the S&P 500 gained 176.22 points to 2,413.62 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 465.42 points to 7,326.09.

In Europe markets trade higher as Britain’s FTSE-100 jumped 6.52%, France’s CAC-40 gained 6.32% and Germany’s DAX surged 8.69%.

However, U.S. economic data figures were alarming.

IHS Markit’s flash U.S. services purchasing managers index fell to an all-time low of 39.1 in March falling from a reading of 49.4 in February.

IHS Markit’s PMI for the domestic manufacturing sector fell to 49.2 in March from 50.7 in February.

The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that new home sales fell 4.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 765,000 units in February.

Original story:

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday on hopes that lawmakers in Washington will soon reach an agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package to save the economy from the ravages of the coronavirus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,062.39 points to 19,654.32, while the S&P 500 gained 114.93 points to 2,352.33 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 335.47 points to 7,196.15.

Democrats led by Charles Schumer of New York were reportedly negotiating parts of the stimulus bill with Republicans as of Tuesday morning.

“I think the limit of time as to how long these negotiations will go on, will be set by the initial unemployment claims that come out on Thursday,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief U.S. economist at Mizuho Securities. “I don’t think there’s any representative in the House or … in the Senate who’s gonna be willing to sit back and debate a lot of issues … and political talking points when you have what could be essentially as many as 3 million people filing for unemployment insurance.”

On Monday evening, President Donald Trump said he wanted to reopen the U.S. economy, despite warnings from public health officials.

“At some point we’re going to open up our country, and it will be fairly soon,” Trump said.

At least 382,108 people around the world now have been infected by coronavirus and at least 16,574 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The euro zone economy suffered “an unprecedented collapse” in business activity in March – the provisional purchasing manager’s index survey data from IHS Markit plunged from rom 51.6 in February to 31.4 in March. The March figure was the lowest ever reported.

An independent survey by the China Beige Book suggested China’s economy may have contracted by 10% to 11% in the first quarter.

China on Tuesday said it will end the two-month lockdown on Wuhan, epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, on Apr. 8.

Overnight in Asia, markets were mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite gained 2.34%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 4.46%, and Japan’s Nikkei-225 surged 7.13%.

In Europe markets trade higher as Britain’s FTSE-100 jumped 5.03%, France’s CAC-40 gained 5.33% and Germany’s DAX surged 7.01%.

Crude oil futures gained 4.45% at $24.40 per barrel, Brent crude rose 4.13% at $30.50. Gold futures jumped 6.84%.

The euro rose 0.95% at $1.083 while the pound sterling jumped 1.93% at $1.1766.