US Market surges on slowing virus death toll

The US equity market finished session sharp higher on Monday, 06 April 2020, as investors were encouraged by a slowdown in coronavirus-related deaths and new cases domestically and in Europe. At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,627.46 points, or 7.73%, to 22,679.99. The S&P 500 gained 175.03 points, or 7.03%, to 2,663.68. The Nasdaq Composite added 540.16 points, or 7.33%, to 7,913.24.

Investor sentiment received a boost amid optimism that the number of coronavirus cases in New York, a U.S. hotspot for the pandemic, may be peaking, after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope the country was seeing a "levelling off" of the coronavirus crisis. New York State reported its first decline in the number of daily coronavirus-related deaths as well as hospitalizations on Sunday. There were 594 new deaths of COVID-19 in New York State on Sunday, a drop from 630 a day before, reported Governor Andrew Cuomo at his daily briefing. The state has had 4,159 fatalities so far. Meanwhile, New Jersey, reported a total of 917 deaths resulting from the virus, including 71 new fatalities. So far, there have been more than 337,900 cases in the U.S. of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for 9,662 deaths.

Reports of decreases in the number of new infections and deaths in European countries like Italy and Spain also generated positive sentiment.

Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index soaring by 11.4%.

Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 10.4% spike by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Financial stocks also saw considerable strength, with the KBW Bank Index and the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index jumping by 9.1% and 8.1%, respectively.

Chemical, networking, software and commercial real estate stocks also moved sharply on the day amid broad based buying interest.

Versace owner Capri Holdings surged 25.9% after saying it expects to open its stores after June 1 and that it would furlough all its 7,000 employees in North America.

Video conferencing app Zoom fell 4.1% on concerns over its data-privacy practices and increased competition from deep-pocketed rivals

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