Wednesday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Jump As Joe Biden Wins Big On Super Tuesday

Update: 12:05 p.m. EDT:

Stocks traded sharply higher at Wednesday noon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 505.04 points to 26,422.45 while the S&P 500 jumped 48.68 points to 3,052.05 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 122.35 points to 8,806.44.

In Europe markets finished higher as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 1.45%, France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.33% and Germany’s DAX rose 1.19%.

The yield on the 10-Year Treasury remained under 1%.

Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed front-runner Joe Biden.

The Bank of Canada lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to 1.25%.

The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing activity index climbed to a reading of 57.3 in February -- the highest such level since February 2019 -- and up from 55.5 in January.

Original story:

U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday as traders were relieved that moderate Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden performed extremely well on Super Tuesday, pulling closer to the nomination ahead of progressive Bernie Sanders.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 630.5 points to 26,547.91 while the S&P 500 jumped 53.78 points to 3,057.15 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 159.53 points to 8,843.62.

However, yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped below 1%.

Former Vice President Joseph Biden won nine of 14 states on Super Tuesday, including Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Arkansas, while Bernie Sanders won California.

“We think the equity market has also been spooked by the decline in expectations that Trump will get reelected… as well as Sanders’ early 2020 surge,” wrote RBC Capital Markets Head of Equity Strategy Lori Calvasina. “If Super Tuesday goes well for Biden, the [sectors] with the most negative assessments may experience some relief. We think this is particularly true for health care.”

The World Health Organization reported at least 93,000 people have been infected with coronavirus and at least 3,100 have died.

Iran has 92 coronavirus deaths, 2,922 infections, while the death toll in Italy surged to 79. As of Wednesday morning, Italy had 2,502 cases. Poland confirmed its first case of the coronavirus disease.

The World Bank approved $12 billion in emergency funding to help poorer nations with the health care costs and economic impact of the virus outbreak.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority reduced its base rate by 50 basis points to 1.5%.

The China Passenger Car Association reported that passenger car retail sales in China plunged by 80% in February due to the coronavirus epidemic.

“The problem is not so much interest rates, which are already very low globally, said investor Mark Mobius. “The problem is the supply chain coming out of China.” Stock markets will continue to incur losses “unless China can ramp up production,” he added.

ADP National Employment Report reported that private sector employment increased by 183,000 in February.

Overnight in Asia, markets finished mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.63%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.24%, and Japan’s Nikkei-225 edged up 0.08%.

In Europe markets traded higher as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 1.54%, France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.35% and Germany’s DAX rose 1.3%.

Crude oil futures gained 2.35% at $48.29 per barrel and Brent crude jumped 1.91% at $52.85. Gold futures slipped 0.19%.

The euro fell 0.67% at $1.1097 while the pound sterling slipped 0.05% at $1.2806.