US stocks jumped again Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced its latest effort to shore up the nation’s coronavirus-battered economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 561.45 points, or about 2.4 percent, in early trading following the central bank’s announcement of a $2.3 trillion loan program to help households, employers and local governments amid the pandemic.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed as much as roughly 2.3 and 1.7 percent, respectively, as Wall Street looked past another brutal report showing 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week.
Stock futures had traded roughly flat before the Fed unveiled its loan scheme, which includes the purchase of up to $600 billion in loans for small and mid-size businesses. The bank said it will also buy as much as $500 billion in short-term notes from US states, counties and large cities.
“The Fed’s role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible,” Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in a statement.
Thursday’s early rally but Wall Street on pace to post significant gains for the week before the markets close for the long Easter weekend. The Dow was up 2,942.49 points, or 13.9 percent, for the week at Thursday’s intraday high, while the S&P had gained 13 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was about 11.6 percent in the green.
