Dow jumps 500 points as coronavirus outlook improves; European markets close higher as investors look to virus lockdown exit strategies; BELEX15 up 0.38%; Serbian GDP to decline 3% in 2020 and grow 7.5% in 2021, IMF says
Stocks jumped on Tuesday, resuming the market’s sharp rebound from last month’s lows, as investors grew more optimistic about the coronavirus outlook. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 500 points, or 2.1%. The S&P 500 climbed 2.6% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.6%. Johnson & Johnson was the best-performing stock in the Dow while the S&P 500 was led higher by 3% rallies in tech, consumer discretionary and consumer staples. Amazon rose to an all-time high to lead the Nasdaq higher.
The corporate earnings season kicked off on Tuesday with JPMorgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson reporting their latest quarterly results, giving investors their first look at how devastating the hit to corporations has been from the pandemic.
JPMorgan Chase reported a big profit decline for the first quarter. Johnson & Jonson shares gained 4.8% on better-than-expected earnings. 
Wells Fargo, meanwhile, reported first-quarter profits well short of expectations as the San Francisco-based bank set aside cash for credit losses amid the coronavirus pandemic. It reported earnings of 1 cent per share, below analyst estimates of 33 cents per share.
Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings growth to decline 10.2% in the first quarter year-over-year, according to Refinitiv.

European markets closed higher Tuesday as investors looked for an exit strategy to the region’s coronavirus lockdowns. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed around 0.6% higher provisionally, with most sectors and major bourses in positive territory.
European countries, among those Italy and Spain that have been some of the worst affected by the coronavirus, are now looking to lift some restrictions on public life as the number of new infections and daily deaths has declined.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cautioned that the world economy would likely suffer the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

Serbian BELEX15 was up 0.38%, as Energoprojekt added 5.7%, while Tehnogas saw 1.95% increase in stock price. The most traded name was Komercijana Banka with RSD 11.3m in volume, while it lost 1% in value. NIS generated only RSD 1.6m in trade turnover, while all other names were far less active.
Meanwhile, IMF came out with its expectations towards corona impact on economies worldwide, where it was said Serbia will face 3% GDP decline in this year and 7,5% growth in 2021.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika