Stocks Surge on Bets Central Banks to Take Action: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks surged the most in fourteen months as investors gained confidence that stewards of the world’s largest economies would act in concert to offset any impact from the spreading coronavirus.

The S&P 500 rallied 4.6% after news that Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers will hold a teleconference Tuesday to discuss how to respond to the outbreak. Tech shares led the rebound after seven straight days of declines for the benchmark index, with monetary policy makers from Japan to England joining the Federal Reserve in promising to take action to support their economies if needed.

Ten-year Treasury yields pared an early slide to trade little changed, while 30-year rates rose. Oil rallied on expectations that the OPEC+ alliance will deepen output cuts.

The stock gains provided hope for investors after last week’s nearly unprecedented rout, even as the S&P 500 Index closed 8.7% below the record it reached just two weeks ago. The coronavirus has already done severe economic damage -- with the OECD warning that growth will sink to levels not seen in more than a decade -- but investors are betting that policy makers will take decisive action to limit the pain.

“Markets are already looking beyond the first half, looking toward the second half to see whether or not we get a recovery in demand,” said Anik Sen, global head of equities at PineBridge Investments, which has about $101 billion in assets under management. “We’re finding stocks at much more reasonable levels than they have been.”

The global death toll from the virus has surpassed 3,000. U.S. cases climbed over the weekend, with the first infections appearing in New York City, Brussels and Berlin, while cases jumped in hot spots of Italy, Iran and South Korea. Positive tests in Italy jumped by more than 500 to 1,694 on Sunday with 41 deaths. Lombardy, the region that includes the financial capital of Milan, accounted for almost 1,000 cases.

Here are some key events coming up:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia sets policy on Tuesday.
• U.S. citizens in states including California and Texas will vote on “Super Tuesday” for a Democratic candidate to run against President Donald Trump in November’s election.
• The Bank of Canada has a rate decision on Wednesday.
• OPEC ministers gather in Vienna on March 5-6.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index rose 4.6% as of 3:38 p.m. New York time.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.1%.
• The Nasdaq 100 Index advanced 4.9%.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.8%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%.
• The euro increased 1.3% to $1.1163.
• The British pound slid 0.3% to $1.2782.
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 107.90 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.15%.
• The yield on two-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to 0.90%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.63%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 5.3% to $47.13 a barrel.
• Gold rose 0.5% to $1,593.64 an ounce.

--With assistance from Todd White, Claire Ballentine and Sam Potter.

To contact the reporters on this story: Randall Jensen in New York at rjensen18@bloomberg.net;Vildana Hajric in New York at vhajric1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Brendan Walsh

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