US stocks jump on hopes of coronavirus stimulus package
US stocks soared this evening on hopes that congress was close to agreeing a $2 trillion stimulus package to protect the economy from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Wall Street’s S&P 500 index closed 9.3 per cent higher today, while the Dow Jones industrial average soared 11.37 per cent – its biggest one day jump since 1933 – and the Nasdaq was up 8.12 per cent.
The coronavirus package includes a proposed $500bn fund to help hard-hit industries and a comparable amount to send direct payments of up to $3,000 to millions of U.S. families.
The financial support plans also include $350bn for small-business loans, $250bn for expanded unemployment aid and at least $75bn for hospitals.
US politicians have been negotiating the package for days. The support would be the third and largest packaged passed to address the coronavirus crisis in the US, which has killed more than 600 people in the country so far.
Traders were also more optimistic due to the Fed’s statement yesterday that it would buy a potentially unlimited amount of government debt and ramp up lending support to businesses.
Earlier in the day President Donald Trump said he wants to reopen the US within less than a month, despite the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the country.
Millions of Americans are currently under state orders to stay at home, however Trump has indicated that he wants to get the economy up and running again as soon as Easter.