Stock market news live: Dow posts second straight day of gains for the first time in more than a month

In This Article:

Stocks staged a rally on Wednesday, extending the previous day’s surge with the Dow boosted by gains from components like Boeing and Nike, and after Washington announced a final deal on a $2 trillion stimulus package designed to combat effects of the coronavirus.

When all was said and done, the Dow ended 2.39%, or 495 points, higher. At session highs earlier, the index had been up as many as 1,315 points.

[Click here to read what’s moving markets Thursday, March 26]

The Senate deal includes $1,200 checks to be sent to many Americans. It also reportedly includes $367 billion for small business, $50 billion specifically for passenger airlines, $8 billion for cargo airlines, and $17 billion “for firms that are deemed important to national security.”

The full text of the bill had not been released as of market close. The Senate had previously been expected to vote on the bill later Wednesday, before sending it to the House of Representatives and then to President Donald Trump.

Here's how long its taken stocks to go from record peaks to a correction.
Here's how long its taken stocks to go from record peaks to a correction.

However, late in the afternoon, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders suggested he would be willing to hold up the bill amid a dispute with other lawmakers over unemployment benefits.

Sanders’s announcement came after several Republican senators earlier in the day objected to aspects of the bill they said could incentivize employers to lay off workers, since they believed the legislation could hypothetically give some workers greater pay in unemployment than their previous wages had provided.

Stocks pared gains heading into the close as the dispute remained ongoing.

The damage — both economic and political — from COVID-19 has stoked a widening debate over how quickly the U.S. can return to a semblance of normalcy. With his re-election chances likely to be defined by a recovery from the crisis, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the economy to be restarted by April 12 — but market analysts have their doubts about that timetable.

4:04 p.m. ET: S&P 500, Dow end higher for a second straight day of gains, but pare advances heading into the close

Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:04 p.m. ET:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): +28.23 (+1.15%) to 2,475.56

  • Dow (^DJI): +495.64 (+2.39%) to 21,200.55

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): -33.56 (-0.45%) to 7,384.29

  • Gold (GC=F): -$18.60 (-1.12%) to $1,642.20 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +4.2 bps to yield 0.8580%

3:56 p.m. ET: Stocks pare gains after Senator Bernie Sanders suggests he may delay stimulus package passage

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said in a Twitter post Wednesday afternoon that he was “prepared to put a hold on” the Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill “until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund.”