The S&P 500 on course for its worst first quarter since 1938, even as Wall Street seemed to steady on Tuesday as investors returned to stocks that are likely to weather an economic slump due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China in mid-November 2019.
Technology firms, which have been resilient amid a broader selloff that has erased more than $5 trillion from the value of S&P 500 firms, were the biggest boost to the index.
An unprecedented round of fiscal and monetary stimulus had helped equity markets stabilize last week following wild swings in the past month that saw the benchmark S&P 500 rise 9% and slump 12% in two consecutive sessions.
Sliding from the record highs of mid February, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes are now set to end the quarter more than 18% lower from the start of the year. The blue-chip Dow is on course for its biggest quarterly percentage decline since 1987, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is set for its worst three months since 2018.
On Tuesday, Facebook Inc, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix Inc, and Google-parent Alphabet Inc – known as the FAANG group of stocks – rose 1% to 2.6%, helping the Nasdaq outperform broader gains… A surprise expansion in China’s March factory activity injected optimism about a potential recovery for U.S. businesses once sweeping stay-at-home orders are lifted and the economy comes back online.
MacDailyNews Take: Hope that was a great bat.