Turnaround Tuesday Saw Stock Buying Peak at NYSE With S&P Surge

(Bloomberg) -- At the height of Tuesday morning’s equity rebound, a second-by-second measure of investor buying interest registered its highest reading ever.

The number of risking stocks exceeded those headed lower by 1,880 at one point in the first few hours after the open of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange -- a record surge in buying. This happened as the S&P 500 jumped more than 7%, rebounding from the 34% plunge that ended the bull market.

Stocks rallied as traders awaited the passage of a spending bill to combat the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus. The Federal Reserve has played its hand, announcing unlimited quantitative easing measures, but investors are focused on what’s to come on the fiscal side of the equation.

“Markets are clearly expressing optimism that fiscal packages will be soon to follow,” Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said by phone. “It does appear there’s going to be some progress toward that today and you’re seeing that reflected across capital markets.”

Still, even with the broad-based buying, plenty of skepticism remained about the rebound. Extreme readings have become the norm, and while Tuesday marked a record spike for the NYSE Tick Index, it’s recorded outsize readings all month long.

“As we know by now, a strong intraday buying stampede has done little to alter the steep downtrend so far,” said Frank Cappelleri, a senior equity trader and market technician at Instinet in New York. “Upside follow-through has been the missing ingredient -- and that’s the one factor that the market needs to see change at this point.”

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