Wall Street rallies for third straight day despite record jobless claims

World markets rallied for a third straight day on Thursday, rising 20% since Monday’s sell-off and technically entering a bull market. Investors were optimistic after the U.S. Senate passed a US$2.2 trillion aid package which the House is expected to approve. In Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau doubled his package to citizens and businesses alike to $52 billion. The S&P and Dow closed well over 6% while the Nasdaq and TSX closed below 6%. In Toronto, busmaker NFI Group soared 33% in another astonishing session while tech darling, Lightspeed POS shot up 32%. Other beaten-up names that have been bouncing back include Savaria, which builds in-house lifts for the elderly, climbing 20%. By sector, industrials, staples and tech lead the gains, while energy lagged with a barrel of WCS plunging 30% below $7.

The same sectors enjoyed gains in the States with Boeing surging 13.75%, Cisco up 7.72%, plus Walgreens in the healthcare space adding 10.56%. All these gains were enjoyed despite the U.S. taking the dubious honour of having a most COVID-19 cases in the world and with New York City turning into an epicenter. Per capita, Canada has roughly half the number of cases as America.

Thursday’s rally are making investors sighing with relief, but analysts suffer no illusions that volatility will continue and are expecting the next downturn. Everyone expected the number to be bad, but 3.28 million American filed for unemployment relief in the week ending March 21. There’s little doubt that he U.S. (among many countries) is now in a recession, though the consensus is that the collective stimulus rushed by several governments has spared the world from a Great Depression. On Bay and Wall streets, the signal is clear: take your time to buy.

🚌 New Flyer Industries Inc. +33%
💿 Lightspeed POS +32%
🛍 Savaria Corp +20%
🛫 Boeing +13.75%
💻 Cisco +7.72%
💊 Walgreen Boots Alliance +10.56%