US markets end higher after Trump declares national emergency over coronavirus

14 Mar 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher with booking their biggest daily gains since October 28, 2008 on Friday after President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency. The declaration by Trump would free up as much as $50 billion in additional funding to combat the outbreak and allow officials to waive certain regulations to accelerate testing and care for coronavirus patients. Trump said that he expects the US to have 1.4 million coronavirus test kits available within a week and a total of 5 million kits within the next month. The president said he is also working with private sector companies to develop drive thru testing facilities across the country. However, Trump said he does not want everybody running out and taking the test, saying only people with certain symptoms should be tested.

Besides, adding to the positive sentiment, a coronavirus test developed by Swiss drug giant Roche has been granted emergency use authorization by the FDA. The FDA said this is the first commercially distributed diagnostic test to receive emergency authorization during the coronavirus outbreak. Roche said it is committed to delivering as many tests as possible and is going to the limits of its production capacity. The emergency authorization of the Roche test comes amid rising concerns about the relatively low levels of coronavirus testing in the US.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,985 points or 9.36 percent to 23,185.62, Nasdaq gained 673.07 points or 9.35 percent to 7,874.88 and S&P 500 was up by 230.38 points or 9.29 percent to 2,711.02.

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