Dow soars by 1,100 points at opening bell on hopes economic stimulus bill finally passes

Wall Street rallied Tuesday on hopes lawmakers are nearing a deal on the $2 trillion stimulus package to help American workers and businesses survive the coronavirus outbreak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the day with a gain of 1,100 points, after hitting its 5 percent “limit up” threshold in premarket trading. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both notched up gains of around 5 percent at the opening bell.

“I think we’re very hopeful that this can be closed out tomorrow,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters late Monday on Capitol Hill after emerging from negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” Mnuchin said, noting, “There’s still a couple of open issues.”

The rally came after Monday’s brutal sell-off, which put the Dow on track for its worst month since 1931 after the stimulus package failed to gain approval for the second time.

With millions of Americans now under virtual lockdown, and businesses across the country shuttering their doors, even the latest round of drastic intervention from the Federal Reserve did not lift Wall Street’s pessimism, in stark contrast to the messaging from the White House.

Administration officials, eager to get the country back to business, have grown increasingly concerned in recent days about the economic impact the tight restrictions on movement and social interactions are having. These officials said they worry that the White House went too far in allowing public health experts to set policy and that their actions did not need to be so draconian.

“America will again and soon be open for business,” President Donald Trump said at a coronavirus task force news briefing on Monday.

However, “there’s a fine line” between balancing the economic needs of Americans and the fight against the pandemic, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Tuesday in an interview on “TODAY.”