U.S. Stocks Gain on Latest Fed Emergency Moves

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Wall Street stocks jumped in late-morning trading Tuesday following fresh emergency actions by the Federal Reserve, rebounding somewhat from Monday's rout.

Near 1535 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.3 percent, or 460 points, at 20,648.09, after slipping below the symbolically important 20,000 level earlier in the morning.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 3.8 percent to 2,477.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 4.0 percent to 7,182.85.

Stocks were choppy early in the session but vaulted strongly into positive territory after the Fed unveiled a new credit facility aimed at the commercial paper market, which finances things like auto loans and home mortgages.

The move came amid reports the Trump administration will seek an $850 billion emergency stimulus package, underscoring the severity of a crisis that has plunged Wall Street into a bear market.

Government data showed US retail sales dropped 0.5 percent in February, a worse-than-expected result that comes from a time before the coronavirus shut down much of the US economy.

"The economy was not doing particularly well before the virus hit, which is not good news," economist Joel Naroff said in a note.

Naroff expects to see a drop in March due to the closings, but offset somewhat by gains from panic buying, adding that "April is when we could see the worst drop as it looks like social distancing will last at least the entire month." 

Consumer staples companies were an especially buoyant group Tuesday, with Campbell Soup winning 13.4 percent, General Mills 10.3 percent and Clorox 13.4 percent.

Big box retailers Target and Walmart surged around 10 percent, while department stores and apparel companies like Macy's and Gap were much lower again.

Boeing continued to weigh down the Dow, plunging 12.3 percent after S&P downgraded its debt rating and the company confirmed it was in talks with Washington policy makers about boosting liquidity for the aviation business.