Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Stock futures jump higher as deal reached on coronavirus stimulus


Stock futures turned positive and continued to move higher, as White House and Senate leaders struck an agreement late Tuesday on a sweeping deal on injecting nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus.
Dow futures are indicating a gain of 2.6 percent, or more than 500 Dow points, when Wall Street opens for business on Wednesday.
The unprecedented economic rescue package would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home.
The final details had proved nettlesome. One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines. Hospitals would get significant help as well.
A vote in the Senate could come Wednesday.
TickerSecurityLastChangeChange %
I:DJIDOW JONES AVERAGES20704.91+2,112.98+11.37%
SP500S&P 5002447.33+209.93+9.38%
I:COMPNASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX7417.857035+557.18+8.12%
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House neared a deal. The Dow adding 11.4 percent, rising 2,112.98 points, its biggest point gain in history. The S&P 500 index leaped 9.4 percent.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei jumped 8 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 3.8 percent and China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.2 percent.
Tokyo share prices were boosted by the decision to postpone the 2020 Olympics to July 2021 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
In Europe, London's FTSE added 2.7 percent, Germany's DAX gained 3.7 percent and France's CAC rose 2.9 percent.
Economists and investors expect to see some dire measures of the impact of the virus in coming days and weeks, and few believe markets have hit bottom. Rallies nearly as big as this have punctuated the last few weeks, and none lasted more than a day.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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