Stocks rose across the globe on Monday as investors cheered news that more countries and US states were looking to ease lockdowns and the Bank of Japan expanded its stimulus program, while the price of oil continued to crumble as storage runs out.
U.S. energy stocks outperformed the overall market with a 2.1% gain even as U.S. crude prices fell more than 20%.
The U.S. dollar slipped as risk-prone traders cheered lockdown news even as health experts warned that not enough coronavirus testing was in place in the United States. From Italy to New Zealand, governments announced the easing of restrictions, while Britain said it was too early to relax them there. New York state will not reopen for weeks, at the soonest.
The Bank of Japan kicked off a week of central bank meetings by pledging to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds, continuing a trend of historic stimulus announcements to offset the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 358.51 points, or 1.51%, to 24,133.78, the S&P 500 gained 41.74 points, or 1.47%, to 2,878.48 and the Nasdaq Composite added 95.64 points, or 1.11%, to 8,730.16.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.77% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.76%.
Oil prices weakened sharply on continued concern about oversupply and a lack of storage space. The front-month contract was trading at lower-than-usual volumes as traders moved to later months in futures contracts.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.77% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.76%.
Although trillions of dollars in stimulus have helped the S&P 500 recover nearly 30% from its March lows, some analysts say more gains may be capped as the economic damage grows, unless there is progress on treatments for the disease.
