Dow jumps 558+ points, Nasdaq exits bear market as coronavirus concerns ease

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NEW YORK - U.S. equity markets rallied Tuesday as concerns over the coronavirus ease and early-stage plans of re-opening some pockets of the economy take shape.

The Nasdaq, which exited a bear market, surged nearly 4 percent stretching its winning streak to four days, the longest since February.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 558 points, or 2.4 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 3.05 percent.

With financial reports for the first quarter just beginning, Wall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet expected S&P 500 earnings to fall 9 percent from a year ago, the first quarterly decline since the financial crisis.

Dow components JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Johnson & Johnson and the San Francisco-based lender Wells Fargo all released results.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a 69 percent drop in profit from a year ago and set aside $6.8 billion to cover loan losses from the economic shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both earnings and revenue were below expectations.

Wells Fargo set aside $3.1 billion to cover loan losses and reported a quarterly profit of 1 cent a share, missing estimates. Revenue of $17.7 billion also disappointed.

Johnson & Johnson reported top- and bottom-line results that topped estimates and hiked its quarterly dividend by 6.3 percent to $1.01 a share.

Amazon shares closed at a record high, crossing $2,283.32 for the first time.

Boeing shares sagged after the planemaker reported another 75 cancellations for 737 Max jet orders, raising the total to 150 for the month.

Beer-maker Anheuser Busch Inbev cut its dividend in half to 50 cents a share, a move that will save the brewer about $1.1 billion.

Video-streaming service Roku soared after preliminary quarterly results showed the number of new subscribers jumped 37 percent year-over-year to 39.8 million as home viewership increases with Americans spending more time in their houses to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company withdrew its full-year guidance.

04d88a7d-NYSE Closes Trading Floor, Moves To Fully Electronic Trading Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 20, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Commodities were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil tanking 10.26 percent to $20.11 a barrel while gold traded up 0.68 percent to $1,757 an ounce.

U.S. Treasurys ticked higher, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down 1 basis point to 0.751 percent.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX surged 1.25 percent and France's CAC rose 0.38 percent. Britain’s FTSE slid 0.88 percent.

Markets rallied across Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei up 3.13 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite climbing 1.59 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 0.56 percent.

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