ZCZC
BCN-08
US-STOCKS-MARKETS-OPEN
US stocks open higher, shrugging off huge April job cuts
NEW YORK, May 6, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks rose early Wednesday, looking past another round of dreadful economic data as the market focuses on an expected future rebound.
About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,002.23, up 0.5 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to 2,885.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 percent to 8,905.71.
Payrolls firm ADP reported the US private sector lost a staggering 20.2 million jobs last month, in a grim precursor to Friday’s official government report.
Adding to the dark outlook: The European Commission said the eurozone economy would contract by 7.7 percent in 2020, as the catastrophic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak sweep through the continent.
Analysts have pointed to moves by most US states to gradually reopen their economies along with unprecedented stimulus from Washington as drivers of positive stock market moves despite the grim outlook.
“The stock market isn’t trading from a standpoint of ‘what have you done for me lately.’ It’s trading from a standpoint of ‘what will you do for me later’ and in its mind, what comes later is going to look a lot better than what has come lately,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
Among individual companies, Disney dipped 0.1 percent as it said it will see an impact of some $1.4 billion from the coronavirus in the current fiscal quarter as a result of a massive hit to its theme parks and other operations.
But General Motors jumped 7.1 percent as it reported better-than-expected profits, even as net income plunged 86 percent to $294 million.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2000hrs