Is the COVID-19 Lockdown Working?

U.S. stocks rallied on Monday, April 6th. This, after encouraging news, emerged from Europe and New York that pointed to a downward turn in coronavirus-related deaths. So, is the lockdown working? It certainly is a positive sign. While promising, it’s important to remember that these are early signs.  A tough week is still ahead with positives cases and deaths expected to hit their peak in the United States this week.

LATEST FACTS:

• At Thursday’s open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.0%, nearly 850 points, while the S&P 500 was up 3.8% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.7%.
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cited lower rates for the state’s number of coronavirus deaths and new cases.
• “Data suggests NY state might peak sooner than Cuomo’s optimistic case,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, said in a client note. “With better visibility on the healthcare crisis in the US, particularly, on the potential to model a national peak, we believe buyers are now taking control.”
• JPMorgan JPM CEO Jamie Dimon took a less optimistic approach, warning of a “bad recession combined with financial stress similar to the global financial crisis of 2008” in a shareholder letter.

At the moment, there are more than 337,000 confirmed cases in the U.S.  and over 9,600 deaths. The stock market ended last week down only 2.6%.  Weekly jobless claims surged to 6.6 million—the highest level ever recorded. Some 10 million Americans filed for unemployment in the last two weeks alone.