NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street jumped in a broad rally on Wednesday, closing ground on all-time highs as signs of recovery from mandated economic shutdowns helped investors look beyond ongoing social unrest and pandemic woes.
Financials, industrials and tech led the three major U.S. stock indexes well into the black, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on course to post their fourth straight day of solid gains.
The Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and the Dow have rebounded sharply from March lows hit as coronavirus-related lockdowns shocked the stock market, and they are now about 1.6%, 8.1%, and 11.6%, respectively, away from overtaking record closing highs set in February.
The Nasdaq 100 .NDX is now within half a percent of its February record.
“With the market returning to all-time highs, there’s sentiment out there that the economy will get better in the second half of the year,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “There are a number of gates in the way between now and 2021, but barring another COVID-like event, there should be a fairly robust return to growth.”
Nationwide protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody extended through their eighth night as protesters ignored curfews, but violence subsided after President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the military.
A spate of grim economic data was not as bad as economists feared, with ADP reporting much fewer private-sector job cuts in May than expected.
Market participants now await the U.S. Labor Department’s more comprehensive May jobs report, which is expected to show unemployment soaring to a historic 19.7%