US markets end higher as states work to ease lockdowns

06 May 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday, extending the rebound seen over the course of the previous session, buoyed by optimism about a gradual reopening of businesses around the country. California detailed initial steps to ease restrictions that have been in place for weeks to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated his call for federal aid for New York, the epicenter of the pandemic, a day after he outlined a pathway to reopening parts of his state, but also stressed that such decisions boil down to how much a human life is worth. Besides, rising crude oil prices also bolstered equity benchmarks as Wall Street looked to corporate earnings for an outlook on the pandemic, with Disney’s results in focus after the close. Besides, Healthcare stocks showed a significant move to the upside during the trading day, driving the Dow Jones US Health Care Index up by 2.2 percent. Significant strength was also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

On the economic data front, a report released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed US service sector activity contracted for the first time since December of 2009 in the month of April. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index tumbled to 41.8 in April from 52.5 in March, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction in service sector activity. The non-manufacturing index slumped to its lowest level since hitting 40.1 in March of 2009 but still came in above street estimates for a reading of 36.8. Meanwhile, with the value of exports showing a steeper drop than the value of imports, the Commerce Department released a report showing a notable increase in the US trade deficit in the month of March. The report said the trade deficit widened to $44.4 billion in March from $39.8 billion in February. The trade deficit was expected to widen to $44.0 billion.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 133.33 points or 0.56 percent to 23,883.09, Nasdaq rose 98.41 points 1.13 percent to 8,809.12 and S&P 500 was up by 25.7 points or 0.9 percent to 2,868.44.

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