US stocks open much higher on hopes virus spread limited

21:46, April 07, 2020

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  Actions and missteps of US govt’s coronavirus response: think tank report

  Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, the number of US coronavirus cases skyrocketed past 200,000, fueling public anxiety over the disease’s spread in the US and prompting more people to question the US government’s coronavirus response. However, by the middle of January, the virus had clearly spread

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  Stock markets extend rally on virus fight hopes

  File photo: VCGGlobal stock markets rallied Tuesday as investors seized on signs of a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus, while some governments began making plans to ease restrictions.Oil was energised by hopes that key producers will agree to cut output at this weeks emergency OPEC video meeting, which will address virus-sapped demand and a price war that crashed the market.The pound clawed back some of losses that followed news late Monday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in intensive care battling COVID-19.Asian and European equities extended Mondays rally following an overnight surge on Wall Street, on news that fresh virus cases were slowing in Spain, Germany, Italy and France."Equities are still racing higher, as the news from key countries like Spain and Italy remains positive," said IG analyst Chris Beauchamp."Stocks continue to rally as investors look for the positives in the current global outlook."- Dramatic turn in Britain -London stocks meanwhile rose as senior cabinet minister Michael Gove said Johnson, who spent the night in intensive care with a deteriorating case of coronavirus, has been given oxygen but is not on a ventilator."The coronavirus crisis has taken a dramatic turn in the UK," said AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam."Johnson is struggling to shake-off COVID-19 and his government is in a panic mode to contain the current crisis."However, in the US virus epicentre of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that for the first time the infection growth rate there was flat.And in China -- where the disease first emerged late last year -- there were no new deaths for the first time since January.Elsewhere, Denmark and Austria have started making plans to lift restrictions slowly as they see light at the end of the tunnel.Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks all finished around two percent higher.After the close in Japan however, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a month-lo...

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  US stocks open higher on massive Fed stimulus plan

  Photo: VCGWall Street stocks rose early Thursday as the Federal Reserve unveiled another round of massive stimulus even as another 6.6 million US workers filed jobless claims spiked due to business closures to counter the coronavirus.About 15 minutes after trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,904.86, up 2.0 percent.The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 2.0 percent to 2,803.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.6 percent to 8,220.28.The gains came after US labor data showed another surge of workers requesting unemployment benefits last week, taking the total over the last three weeks to nearly 17 million.Economists warn the jobless rate will surge into double digits in April reflecting the enormous hit from business closures since mid-March.But the unemployment data was released simultaneous to the Feds latest massive effort to prop up the US economy, a series of financing facilities to provide $2.3 trillion in liquidity.The programs aim to help businesses, households and state and local governments facing a cash crunch as large parts of the economy have been shut down.