Stocks up 3.4% on Wall Street amid hopes for virus peak
The Wall Street sign is pictured at the New York Stock exchange (NYSE) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 9, 2020. (REUTERS Photo)


Wall Street stocks finished with solid gains Wednesday as the market embraced data from New York and other coronavirus hotspots that suggested the outbreak was leveling off.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,426.43, up 3.4% or around 770 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 3.4% to 2,749.26 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 2.6% to 8,090.90.

It’s the latest about-face in this brutally volatile stretch for the U.S. stock market, which has flip-flopped between gains and losses for six straight days.

The up moves have recently been bigger than the downward swings, though, amid signs that deaths and infections may be nearing a peak or plateau in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas.

The S&P 500 has jumped nearly 23% since it hit a low two and a half weeks ago.