It took just a few hours for fear to turn back into greed on Wall Street Monday, and stocks erased a sharp, early slump to notch healthy gains after the Federal Reserve unveiled its latest push to prop up the economy, the AP reports. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% following the latest day of big swings in global markets, as a remarkable, weekslong rally shows some cracks amid worries about new waves of coronavirus infections. When trading began in New York, those worries seemed set to drag the US stock market to a loss following sharp declines in Asia and more modest ones in Europe. The S&P 500 quickly fell 2.5%, with stocks that most desperately need the economy to reopen hit particularly hard. But stocks and Treasury yields began to trim their losses as the day progressed.
They popped decisively higher after the Fed said in the afternoon that it will buy individual corporate bonds. The S&P 500 rose 25.28 points to finish at 3,066.59, which is 9.4% below its record set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 157.62 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 25,763.16 after earlier being down as many as 762 points. The Nasdaq composite added 137.21, or 1.4%, to 9,726.02. "Volatility is here to stay, at least for a little while," said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede. “Nobody in the financial industry has a good way to forecast this.” In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 4.8%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 3.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 2.2%.
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