The S&P 500 rose 2.5% in the first few minutes of trading Monday. Investors were enouraged to see that European countries were taking more steps to lift lockdowns put in place to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Over the weekend Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism that the U.S. economy could begin to recover in the second half of the year. Once the outbreak has been contained, he said, the economy should be able to rebound "substantially.
Investors appear to be looking past the outbreak to a recovery despite rising infection numbers in the United States, Brazil and some other countries. Forecasters warn the latest market buoyancy might be premature and a return to normal could be some way off. On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 index and the Dow industrials were up 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. On Friday, U.S. stocks turned in their biggest weekly loss in nearly two months.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism Sunday the U.S. economy can begin to rebound in the second half, assuming the coronavirus doesn't erupt in a second wave. He said a full recovery won't likely be possible before the arrival of a vaccine. The U.S. downturn was the result of an external event instead of problems such as the financial instabilities that led to the 2008 crisis, which may mean "we can get back to a healthy economy fairly quickly," Powell said.
Meanwhile, Japan's government reported Monday the world's third-largest economy contracted by 0.9% in the three months ending in March compared with the previous quarter.
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