Global markets are enjoying a second consecutive day of gains Tuesday, with Europe’s major indexes in positive territory in afternoon trading amid rising hope that the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic may be easing.
The FTSE in London and Paris’s CAC 40 have gained more than 3%, and the DAX in Frankfurt is up nearly 4%.
Europe’s higher numbers continue Monday’s much-needed rally across the globe, capped by gains of 7% or more on Wall Street.
The gains resumed again Tuesday in Asia, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index earning 2% at the closing bell as the nation awaited Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s formal introduction of a $990 billion economic stimulus plan.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong and Shanghai’s index also finished 2% percent higher, while Seoul’s KOSPI index was up 1.7%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX was down nearly one-half of 1% at the closing bell.
In early U.S. trading, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were more than 3% higher, while the Nasdaq composite was up more than 2.5%.
The global economy has ground to a standstill as authorities imposed strict lockdowns and quarantines to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has sickened more than a million people across the globe, including nearly 75,000 deaths.
But investors are expressing cautious optimism on news that the number of confirmed cases and fatalities in Spain and Italy, two of the world’s biggest hot spots for the virus, have been steadily declining in recent days. This, while the daily death toll in New York City has essentially evened out, while the number of new coronavirus patients have slowly begun to decline.
