The stock market surged on Monday as investors invested in bargains after reassurances by central banks that they stood ready to counter the economic impact from the coronavirus following last week’s dramatic sell-off. Shares of Apple surged back from a two-year [4-month*] low to jump 6.3% and lift the S&P 500 more than any other company.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday that Japan’s central bank would take necessary steps to stabilize financial markets. That followed a similar move by Fed Chair Jerome Powell last Friday.
Traders see a 100% chance of a 50 basis point rate cut at the Fed’s March meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
At 2:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.98% at 26,167.45 points, while the S&P 500 surged 2.40% to 3,025.12. The Nasdaq Composite added 2.3% to 8,764.71.
“The sell-off was so fierce last week that you do have some buy-the-dip investors emerging,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, it sure is nice to see Apple shares surge. More, please. Hopefully, the COVID-19 situation improves quickly, so people can get back to work and the macroeconomy can regain its health, too, after this rather obvious overreaction. Some people watch too many disaster movies and have little or no idea about things like the annual Disease Burden of Influenza and therefore have difficulty putting things like COVID-19 into perspective.
*Thanks, to Apple 3.0’s Phillip Elmer-DeWitt for the correction!