Traders are seen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, the United States, March 17, 2020. U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday, following a historic drop in the previous session, amid hopes for further stimulus measures to counter the coronavirus impact. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1,048.86 points, or 5.20 percent, to 21,237.38. The S&P 500 increased 143.06 points, or 6.00 percent, to 2,529.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 430.19 points, or 6.23 percent, to 7,334.78. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
NEW YORK, March 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday, following a historic drop in the previous session, amid hopes for further stimulus measures to counter the coronavirus impact.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1,048.86 points, or 5.20 percent, to 21,237.38. The S&P 500 increased 143.06 points, or 6.00 percent, to 2,529.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 430.19 points, or 6.23 percent, to 7,334.78.
All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with utilities up 13.11 percent, outpacing the rest.
The Trump administration on Tuesday expressed its intent to offer cash payments for working Americans as part of an economic stimulus package amid coronavirus fallout.
"We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a White House press briefing.
Earlier in the day, Bloomberg reported that Mnuchin is negotiating with lawmakers on an 850-billion-dollar stimulus plan to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, citing people familiar with the matter.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. economy "may be" heading toward a recession and that the COVID-19 outbreak could last for months.
The Federal Reserve on Sunday cut its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point to near zero and pledged to boost its bond holdings by at least 700 billion U.S. dollars.
Tuesday's market movement followed Wall Street's worst session in more than three decades.
The 30-stock index and the S&P 500 on Monday shed 12.9 percent and 12 percent, respectively, marking their worst day since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The Nasdaq Composite had its biggest one-day plunge ever, tumbling 12.3 percent.
Trading was halted for 15 minutes shortly after Monday's opening bell as steep sell-off triggered a circuit breaker. It was the third time that the circuit breaker, or trading halt, had been tipped since last week.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States had topped 5,000 by 12:00 p.m. local time Tuesday (1600 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
On the data front, advance estimates of U.S. retail sales dropped 0.5 percent last month, indicating signs of early damage from the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales climbing 0.2 percent in February.
