Dow Jones, S&P 500 climb 2% as Fed, other policymakers take further steps

The S&P 500 was up more than 2% in afternoon trading on Thursday after policymakers around the world took further emergency actions to try to help financial markets and stave off a deep and lasting coronavirus-driven recession.

The Federal Reserve opened swap lines with central banks in nine new countries to ensure the world's dollar-dependent financial system continued to function.
 

It was the latest in a host of steps taken by the U.S. central bank over the last two weeks, including cutting borrowing costs to near zero and providing billions more for cheap credit.

The European Central Bank pledged late Wednesday to