The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared on Tuesday, logging its best day in 87 years as investors bet U.S. lawmakers would deliver soon a stimulus bill to rescue the economy from the damage caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus and shutdowns designed to retard its spread. It was an historic bounce coming after an historic sell-off.
Rachel Fox for Investor’s Business Daily:
Investor sentiment turned positive as lawmakers and the Trump administration neared agreement on a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
The 30-stock average closed 2,112.98 points higher — or more than 11% — at 20,704.91, notching its biggest one-day percentage gain since 1933. The S&P 500 rallied 9.4% to 2,447.33 for its best day since October 2008. The Nasdaq Composite surged 8.1% to 7,417.86, its best day since March 13. Both the Dow and S&P 500 rebound off their lowest levels since late 2016.
It was the Dow’s fifth-best day ever.
Fred Imbert and Thomas Franck for CNBC:
Tuesday’s gains also came as President Donald Trump signaled he was eager to reopen the economy, despite concerns of public health officials. “We’re opening up this incredible country. Because we have to do that. I would love to have it open by Easter,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Some investors believe coronavirus cases in the U.S. must show signs of peaking before any comeback could be trusted. But the sheer magnitude of the gains on Tuesday were hard to ignore. It was the largest point gain for the Dow ever. It was the second-biggest point gain for the S&P 500 in its history.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, at least we can all say that we live in interesting times!
It’s still gonna drop tomorrow.
Trump and Wall Street would rather ignore the science and open up all businesses; no matter how many of us are killed by COVID-19
Some evidence of that:
In a Fox News interview today, the President provided a little more reasoning behind his timeline for opening up the country.
“So, I think Easter Sunday, and you’ll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time. And it’s just about the timeline that I think is right,” he said.
With the virus spreading like wildfire, he is encouraging Americans to crowd into confined spaces for worship less than three weeks from now. Sounds like the mayor of Philadelphia urging everyone to attend the 1918 bond rally. That cost 4500 lives. The Easter Insanity would be far more costly.
The actual quotes, spin-free:
President Trump: I think we’ll be looking at a lot of things. We’ll also be looking at very large portions of our country. And I will be guided very much by Dr. Fauci and by Deborah and by some of the other professionals that work with both of you.
And we’re going to see what — what will be, but that would certainly be — I think that’s a goal that perhaps can happen, or at least for a very large portion of our country.
Dr. Fauci: When you look at the country, I mean, obviously, no one is going to want to tone down things when you see what’s going on in a place like New York City. I mean — I mean, that’s just, you know, good public health practice and common sense.
But the country is a big country and there are areas of the country — and I referred to this in my opening remarks — that we really need to know more about what the penetrance is there.
So if we do the kind of testing that we’re doing — and testing will always be associated by identification, isolation, and contact tracing. And you find, after a period of time, that there are areas that are very different from other areas of the country. You may not want to essentially treat it as it — just one force for the entire country, but look at flexibility in different areas.
So I think people might get the misinterpretation you’re just going to lift everything up and, even if somebody going like that, you — I mean, that’s — that’s not going to happen. It’s going to be looking at the data.
And what we don’t have right now that we really do need is we need to know what’s going on in those areas of the country where there isn’t an obvious outbreak. Is there something underneath the surface that says, “Wait a minute, you better be careful and really clamp down,” or what looks there that you don’t really have to be as harsh as you are in other areas?
So it’s looking at information that, up to this point, John, we never had. So it’s a flexible situation.
FactChecker is the post I’m referring to as having it right. See below.
Yes, his quote is accurate. So is mine. The contradiction is precisely my point. See below.
RICK STERNER & Tx:
You are both liars and deliberately mis-informing people. You would rather your disgusting political party triumph than behave yourselves and work together with most Americans to use common sense and the head of CDC for the benefit of your fellow citizens. See the post below and cringe at your comeuppance. j
No cringing. No comeupance. He also said,
“ So, I think Easter Sunday, and you’ll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time. And it’s just about the timeline that I think is right.”
My point for weeks now, maybe months, is that the Administration in general and the President in particular have been sending mixed messages. Minimizing the truth for political reasons, rather than just sticking with the science, got millions of people killed in 1918. That was the primary lesson of that pandemic. Scientists have learned that lesson. Politicians have not.
With appropriate countermeasures, we can get through this without unnecessarily killing a lot of people. I have not been trying to create a panic. All that I have been saying is that the appropriate countermeasures are necessary. They are not some sort of devious plot to wreck the economy to win an election.
“a stimulus bill to rescue the economy“
Rescue? No. “Prop up for a time” would be more fitting.
While it’s propped up, the underbelly of the beast needs the major surgery it never received during/after the Great Recession. But, we’ve been trained to think that once the stawk market gets rolling again, ”all’s good.” With the Fed still at the helm and now, BlackRock into a decisive role to “unwind” the bond mess, we’re heading backing into the status quo…and that ain’t what’s needed.
It’s not the Trump administration. It’s the Democrats and the republicans in the Senate. The administration has been mostly silent about the process. It seems as though the republicans are indicating, finally, that they are willing to give way on some of business oriented portions, give more to affected families and individuals and open up on some transparency as to where a lot of money will be going.
They should have done that last week.
Then someone says “Boo” and it falls again.
” .. bulk discount on the paper used by the Fed to print up all of this funny money. I was wondering where all of the toilet paper was really going.”
Best trade day since the Great Depression? Party on!
Now we know the high bar that Bankruptcy King uses to define great. Don’s Depression isn’t an abstract possibility, it’s likely to happen without more good old fashioned welfare. But the right wingers are okay with that now.
Don and his swamp buddies should slink away and find another entity to bankrupt.