Coronavirus: US stocks edge up as governments scramble to contain virus and its economic fallout
- Following Wednesday’s massive sell-off, markets closed slightly up, with the Dow closing over the 20,000-point mark again
- In an early sign of the outbreak’s economic impact in the US, workers filing first-time jobless claims surged to their highest numbers in 2½ years
US stocks edged up Thursday, following the latest in a series of massive sell-offs spurred by the coronavirus pandemic the day before, and breaking a string of sessions characterised by convulsive stock swings.
The indices opened lower but rose by midmorning and largely stayed in positive territory. The S&P 500 stock index closed up 2.3 per cent., while the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.5 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1 per cent, closing back over the psychologically significant 20,000-point mark, at 20,087.19.
The trading session followed the markets’ steep drop on Wednesday when the Dow closed down 6.3 per cent. The waves of selling in the past weeks had wiped out nearly all the gains since US President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017 and had technically created a bear market.
Perhaps more significantly, the markets seemed to hold firm on Thursday during and after Trump’s participation at the daily White House coronavirus briefing despite his remarks blaming China for the pandemic that has infected more than 10,000 and killed more than 150 in the US. Wednesday’s sell-off was marked by a pronounced acceleration after that briefing concluded.
The price for US oil also jumped nearly 24 percent on Thursday for its best day on record, as West Texas Intermediate crude close at US$25.22 a barrel, starting to climb back from the recent massive losses.
