Stocks soared Friday to post the biggest rally since 2008 as Wall Street rebounded from the sharp losses suffered in the previous session — Black Thursday II™ – the worst since the “Black Monday” market crash in 1987 due to COVID-19 cornavirus concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1,985 points higher, or 9.4%, at 23,185.62. Friday marked the Dow’s biggest-ever point gain. The S&P 500 climbed 9.2% to 2,711.02 while the Nasdaq Composite surged 9.3% to 7,874.23. The averages posted their biggest one-day gain since October 2008.
Equities rallied to their session highs into the close after President Donald Trump also said 50,000 new coronavirus tests will be available next week. Trump also said he asked the Energy Department to purchase oil for the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve, boosting crude prices.
Apple and Facebook jumped more than 10% each to lead the so-called FAANG stocks higher. Google-parent Alphabet gained 9.3% while Amazon and Netflix both rose more than 6%.
“It almost seems as if the market has a gravitational force to that Dec. 24, 2018 low,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “It feels as though the market wants to go back there… That said. there has been indiscriminate selling, which is good thing. That’s the kind of panic you wait for.”
MacDailyNews Take: Biggest crash since 1987! Biggest rally since 2008! Up, down, up, down… somebody let us off this thing!