US stock futures flat after Wall St drops on Trump tariffs, soft jobs data
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* Senate to vote on stimulus bill on Wednesday
* Boeing surges in biggest boost to the Dow
* Indexes: Dow +5.46%, S&P 500 +4.02%, Nasdaq +2.23%
(Updates to afternoon)
By Noel Randewich
March 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street rallied for a second
straight session on Wednesday as the U.S. Senate neared a vote
on a $2 trillion package to support businesses and households
devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Boeing surged 30%, bringing its gain over the past three
sessions to over 70%, as investors bet on government support for
the aerospace industry as well as airlines. American Airlines
Group AAL.O , United Airlines Holding UAL.O and Delta Air
Lines DAL.N each jumped more than 15%.
Boeing, once the symbol of U.S. manufacturing strength,
remains down by about 50% since mid-February.
Top aides to Republican President Donald Trump and senior
Senate Republicans and Democrats said they had agreed on the
unprecedented stimulus bill, which includes a $500 billion fund
to help hard-hit industries and a comparable amount for direct
payments of up to $3,000 apiece to millions of U.S. families.
A draft text for a $2 trillion economic rescue seen by
Reuters would offer passenger airlines $25 billion in grants and
$25 billion in loans, cargo carriers another $8 billion in loans
and grants, and contractors like caterers up to $3 billion in
grants.
"What the fiscal and monetary stimulus has done is to allow
the market to recover," said Justin Hoogendoorn, head of fixed
income strategy at Piper Jaffray in Chicago. "It's not because
the main street community is coming back. It's the institutional
crowd being able to say, 'the world isn't falling apart'."
But with fears of a global recession and corporate defaults
running high, and expectations of a continued surge in
coronavirus cases in the United States, many investors remained
reluctant to call an end to Wall Street's recent, staggering
selloff.
"We are still in a phase where we need to be cautious,"
warned Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist for U.S. Bank
Wealth Management. "We don't yet know when these social
distancing measures will end, and the evidence for now is that
they will continue to expand."
Data due on Thursday is likely to show U.S. weekly jobless
claims surging to 1 million as companies announce layoffs and as
state-wide lockdowns force businesses to shutter stores.
Royal Caribbean Cruises RCL.N jumped 24% and Norwegian
Cruise Line Holdings NCLH.N rallied 22%. Both companies have
been among the hardest hit from the pandemic.
At 2:30 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 5.46% at 21,835.94 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX jumped
4.02% to 2,545.75.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC ascended 2.23% to 7,583.51.
Wednesday's rally follows the Dow's surge of over 11% the
session before, its strongest one-day percentage performance
since 1933.
The S&P 500 has lost about $7 trillion in value from its
February record high.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
7.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.82-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 4 new highs and 44 new lows.