U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday morning, but they recovered soon and skyrocketed over the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 1.6% to 23,625.34, while the Nasdaq composite climbed up by 0.9% to 8,943.72.
Despite the rally, investors remain extra cautious due to the escalating tensions between the U.S. and China. As a result, Wall Street has been wavering during the last weeks. Futures plummeted down by more than 30%, but then they surged forward again, recovering losses and adding more gains.
More than 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 were down on Friday morning, but more than 75% rose by the end of the session. All in all, the S&P 500 increased by 1.2% to 2,852.20 that day.
The S&P 500’s financial stocks saw the biggest gain among the index’s 11 sectors so far. They rallied by 2.6%. Wells Fargo skyrocketed by 6.8%, and Bank of America jumped up by 4%.
How did Asian futures fare?
Asian shares fluctuated due to investors’ concerns about the prolonged health risks from the new coronavirus. The governments planned to reopen their economies on Friday, and some also worry about the possibility of new outbreaks.
As a result, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined by almost 0.2% to 19,881.46 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi also fell by 0.3% to 1,919.51. However, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 5,362.80.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite changed insignificantly, being at 2,870.69. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost almost 0.3% to 23,767.56.
As we are not out of the woods yet, bright spots in the stock markets and the economy should not cause complacency – noted Riki Ogawa of Mizuho Bank. According to him, while economies are preparing to emerge from varying degrees of lockdown, restoration of “normalcy” will take much longer.
China has already lifted the majority of the restrictions. Japan is also gradually easing lockdowns and reopening some businesses, but the increasing number of new virus cases causes concern.
