Wall Street Close: US benchmarks rally 7% as COVID-19 cases decline

The US benchmarks were supercharged on Monday with the Dow adding around 1600 points and similar percentile gains in the S&P500 as well as the NASDAQ on hopes that the COVID-19 numbers of new cases are peaking. The weekend updates were showing a slowing in the spread of the virus and the V-shaped recovery that some economists have been forecasting were reverberating in market sentiment at the start of the week. 

Consequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped about 1,604 points, +7.6%, to close near 22,656, while the S&P 500 put on around 173 points, +6.9%, to end the session around 2,661. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed as well, adding around 535 points, up 7.3%, closing near 7,908. The effect of the lockdown has been supported home delivery companies such as Wayfair Inc. with their stock price taking off by 40% higher on Monday following news the business had more than doubled in late March. 

Declining numbers of the death toll in New York City and Europe has the world preying that we have seen the worts of it and hat the bell curve is now on a southerly trajectory. Italy on Saturday reported its lowest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths in nearly two weeks, according to a Reuters report. It also said the number of patients in intensive care fell for the first time.

European data was dismal, PM Johnson in intensive care

Meanwhile, there were some key data released in Europe with Germany’s construction PMI falling sharply into contractionary territory in March. Analysts at ANZ bank explained that it was falling 13.8 pts to 42 and despite the fact that construction sites have not been ordered to shut down (provided workers maintain physical distancing guidelines).

"Meanwhile, German factory orders for February show manufacturing was muddling along before COVID-19 hit, falling 1.4% m/m to be up 1.5% y/y. The March release will be weak. Weak euro data more broadly: Euro area investor confidence fell to its lowest reading on record, down 25.8 pts from March to -42.9. The current situation index fell a whopping 51.7 pts to -66, while expectations lifted marginally, up 4.2 pts from March to -15.8 in April. Weak UK data: UK new car registrations fell 44.4% y/y in March, while the UK’s construction PMI dropped to 39.3 (last: 52.6, mkt: 44)."

Speaking of the UK, the PM Boris Johnson was admitted to intensive care in St. Tomas's Hospital and the pound fell sharply as a result. More on that here:

• Breaking: Boris Johnson has been taken to intensive care – BBC

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