By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 26th, 2024
The three major Wall Street averages have soared on Wednesday. Dow Jones is nearly 400 points up. Stocks like Facebook and Amazon jumped as well, hitting new all-time records.
Hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. economy is reopening. There is obviously no question of the rapid rebound, but with more states easing stay-at-home orders and other coronavirus measures, investors are increasing their bets. Their optimism has made inroads in trading this week.
Market Indices Rallied on Wednesday Boosted by U.S. Economy Reopening
The three major Wall Street averages have soared. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose by 369.04 points and closed at 24,575.90. Notably, the Dow’s 1.52% gain was the fourth positive day in five. The Dow Jones is still 13.88% down year-to-date and 16.89% lower than its intraday all-time high of 29,568.57 on February 12. But due to the US economy reopening, the current dynamics are positive.
The S&P 500 index shed 30.97 points, or 1.1%, to finish at 2,922.94 on Tuesday. But the next day, it rose by 1.68% to 2,971.61, which is its highest closing level since March 6. The increase is already the fourth time in five days. But the index remains 8.02% down year-to-date.
The Nasdaq Composite has rallied on Wednesday as well. It was trading at its highest level in three months. The Nasdaq Composite added 2.08% at 9,375.78 and is 4.49% up year-to-date.
Sam Stovall, the chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said:
“You have the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and small caps all rallying – you have a widening breadth of strength that is giving investors encouragement. In general Wall Street is saying ‘I factored in a worst-case scenario and now it appears as if things are not as bad as they might be.”
Facebook and Amazon Hit New Record Highs
The indices soared on the background of some tech stocks leading the market. What is meant here is Facebook and Amazon that were the front runners and boosted the market.
For example, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) stock that has been bullish lately hit a new all-time high on Wednesday. It spiked by 6.04% to $229.97 at the close. In pre-market today, Facebook shares have slightly declined. At the moment of writing, FB stock makes up $229.38 per share.
A day before, Facebook introduced Facebook shops, a new shopping feature that allows users to create online stores in their profiles.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock has also made a good running. It ended yesterday’s session at $2,497.94, or 1.98% up, and hit a new all-time record. The retailing giant continues to benefit from the coronavirus pandemic in terms of online sales growth.
Indeed, many stocks ended in the green on Wednesday. For instance, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at $815.56, 0.93% up. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock added 1.39% to close at $185.66. United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: UAL) stock jumped by 5.19% to $24.91.
How other companies are doing while teh U.S. economy is reopening, you can read here.