Sushiman/iStock(NEW YORK) — U.S. financial markets appeared to bounce back on Friday after days of massive losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging around 1,110 points, more than 5%, at the opening bell.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each also jumped about 5%.
By midday, gains retreated slightly, with the Dow up around 2.5% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rising about 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively.
The markets have plummeted amid the novel coronavirus outbreak and the World Health Organization declaring it a “pandemic.”
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 2,350 points, almost 10%, a day after falling 1,464 points, or 5.86%, as investor anxiety pushed the index into a bear market for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. Thursday’s losses were the worst since 1987.
As markets reeled this week, the Federal Reserve announced a $1.5 trillion plan to help stabilize the financial system, but that appeared to have little effect on Thursday.
“These changes are being made to address highly unusual disruptions in Treasury financing markets associated with the coronavirus outbreak,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a statement Thursday.
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, told ABC News earlier in the week that “the coronavirus pandemic has taken the stock market into bear market territory, and further declines are in the offing as the U.S. effectively hits the ‘pause’ button on the economy in an effort to curtail spread of the virus.”
“Yes, there will be economic disruption, and an all-but-certain recession,” he said.
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