“Investors are shifting from the coronavirus to politics, and the market knows how to play politics better than the virus,” said Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices. “But stocks could turn on a dime if there is a new memo on the coronavirus.”
U.S. stock markets surged Wednesday after Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday run made him a formidable moderate counterweight to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s economically disruptive proposals in the Democratic presidential race. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day up nearly 1,200 points, or more than 4.5 percent.
The Dow surged hundreds of points in the final minutes of the session, closing at 27,091, up 1,173 points on the day. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index finished up 4.22 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed with a 3.85 percent gain. Mike Bloomberg’s retreat from the Democratic presidential primary and a report showing unexpected growth in the U.S. service sector added to Wall Street’s feel-good vibe.
