Gold prices just lower; monthly gains on track
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* Senate likely to pass stimulus bill as soon as Tuesday
* Boeing surges as CEO flags mid-year return for 737 MAX
* Banks gain as U.S. Treasury yields rise
* U.S. business activity in March hits a record low
* Indexes jump: Dow 8.02%, S&P 6.86%, Nasdaq 5.76%
(Updates to early afternoon, adds comments)
By Uday Sampath Kumar and Medha Singh
March 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street snapped back from
three-year lows and the Dow jumped more than 1,500 points on
Tuesday, as hopes of Washington passing an economic rescue
package provided a shot of optimism to markets reeling under the
biggest selloff since the financial crisis.
All three main U.S. stock indexes jumped about 6%, swinging
back from another brutal selloff in the previous session as the
virus outbreak forced entire nations to shut down.
The severity of the spread of COVID-19 and the expectations
of aggressive stimulus measures have whipsawed financial markets
with the Dow Jones .DJI gaining nearly 2,000 in one session
last week, only to fall almost 3,000 points the next day.
The blue-chip index, which has erased over three years of
gains in one month, is now on track for its second best day in
nearly 12 years.
Investors hope that the U.S. Senate will pass a $2 trillion
stimulus bill, aimed at providing financial aid to Americans out
of work and help distressed industries, as early as Tuesday.
"They want to see the government throw out all the backstops
to help support low income or service oriented consumers," said
Andrew Smith, chief investment officer at Delos Capital Advisors
in Dallas, Texas.
A separate proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives to
grant airlines and contractors a $40 billion bailout lifted the
S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR by 17.22%. Powering the Dow's gains was Boeing Co BA.N , which jumped
13.90% after Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said the planemaker
expected the 737 MAX jet to return to service by mid-year. Its
shares have lost nearly two-thirds of its value so far in 2020.
Traders, however, remained doubtful of a lasting recovery in
financial markets without evidence of a peaking in the number of
new COVID-19 cases.
"We don't know how long it's going to take to peak. We don't
know how to treat it. We don't have a vaccine. So all of those
uncertainties are causing a myriad of aftershocks," said Nancy
Perez, senior portfolio manager at Boston Private Wealth in
Miami.
Data on Monday showed U.S. business activity hit a record
low in March, bolstering expert views that the economy was
already in a recession. At 13:11 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 1,491.90 points, or 8.02%, at 20,083.83, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 153.38 points, or 6.86%, at 2,390.78 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 394.84 points, or 5.76%, at 7,255.52.
Big banks index .SPXBK jumped about 10%, tracking an
increase in U.S. government bond yields. US/
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 8.87-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 5.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and two new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded four new highs and 61 new lows.