Dow rallies more than 1,300 points, capping its biggest 3-day surge since 1931; European stocks close higher; Tehnogas jumps huge 16.5% to lead BELEX15 1.2% higher

Stocks surged for a third straight day Thursday as investors shrugged off the release of record-breaking initial jobless claims while the Senate passed a massive economic stimulus bill amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,351.62 points, or 6.4%, to close at 22,552.17. The Dow capped off its biggest three-day surge since 1931. Over the past three days, the Dow is up more than 20%. The S&P 500 also posted a three-day winning streak, rising 6.2% to 2,630.07. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 5.6%  to 7,797.54 as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet all jumped more than 4%.

The Labor Department reported that jobless benefit claims had soared to 3.28 million last week, by far a record. That number blew past the Great Recession peak of 665,000 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. However, the number was still better than the most dire estimates on Wall Street. Citi, for example, expected a spike to 4 million.

European markets closed higher Thursday after U.S. jobless claims ballooned to a record high amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 1.8%, reversing earlier losses, with travel and leisure stocks climbing almost 6% and autos slipping marginally into negative territory.

BELEX15 added 1.2%, while trade volume was very miserable at only EUR 71k. Bonds were treaded well with EUR 18.2m in volume. The index was basically led by huge +16.5% reversal at Tehnogas, while 5.2% gain at Energoprojekt also contributed. NIS was the most trade name with RSD 6.6m in volume, while its stock price was down 0.52%. From the macro side, we had a report from SORS which said an average net salary in Serbia in January 2020 was at EUR 511.

Source: CNBC, Ilirika