Stocks leap again amid virus fight

Stocks on Wall Street soared Wednesday as governments and central banks around the globe took more aggressive measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak and its effects on the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average leaped 4.5%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 3.8% and now has a slight gain for the year.

The gains more than recouped the market’s big losses from Tuesday as Wall Street’s wild, virus-fueled swings extended into a third week.

Stocks rose sharply from the get-go Wednesday, led by big gains for healthcare stocks, after Joe Biden solidified his status as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Investors see him as a more business-friendly alternative to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The rally’s momentum accelerated after House and Senate leaders reached a deal on a bipartisan $8.3-billion bill to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

Investors were also expecting other central banks to emulate the Federal Reserve’s Tuesday surprise move to slash interest rates by half a percentage point in hopes of protecting the economy from the virus outbreak’s economic fallout. Canada’s central bank cut rates Wednesday.

Some measures of fear in the market eased. Treasury yields rose but were still near record lows, a sign that the bond market remains concerned about the potential for economic pain. Companies around the world are already saying the virus outbreak is sapping away earnings via supply-chain disruptions and weaker sales.

Healthcare stocks in the S&P 500 jumped 5.8%, the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index. UnitedHealth Group and Cigna both jumped 10.7%. Anthem soared 15.6%, the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. A Biden nomination would be more welcome on Wall Street than a nod for Sanders, who is campaigning on a proposal to enact “Medicare for All.”

Data released Wednesday painted a U.S. economy that was still holding up, at least as of last month. The country’s services industries grew faster last month than economists expected, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management. Hiring at private employers was stronger than expected in February, according to a report from payroll processor ADP, though slower than January’s pace.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose Wednesday to 1.06% from 1.01%. The twoyear Treasury yield fell to 0.69% from 0.71%.

Benchmark crude oil fell 40 cents to $46.78 a barrel. Gold fell $1.40 to $1,643 an ounce.