By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow snapped a two-day losing streak on Wednesday as Congress reached a deal on a fourth coronavirus stimulus package and the sea of red in energy abated as oil prices steadied.
The Dow rose 1.99%, or 456 points, theS&P 500 gained 2.29% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.81%.
After two-straight days of sharp declines, oil found its footing, rising 20% despite data underscoring the timid state of demand as weekly U.S. inventories jumped by 15 million barrels, the most since May 2017, further exacerbating the glut in supplies.
The rebound in crude prices underpinned a rebound in energy stocks, which just days earlier were haemorrhaging losses, with Apache (NYSE:APA) up 10%, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) up 10% and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) closing nearly 10% higher.
Technology, meanwhile, led the broader move higher, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) catching a strong bid as Snap's (NYSE:SNAP) blowout quarter indicated that fears of a material slump in advertising spending due to the coronavirus pandemic may have been somewhat overdone. Snap surged more than 36%.
Elsewhere on the earnings front, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) gave up earlier gains to close about 2.6% lower after reporting a quarterly loss that was not as bad as many had feared. But the company did offer up a gloomy outlook ahead, warning it could take two to three years to recover from the pandemic.
AT&T (NYSE:T), meanwhile, fell 1.3% after the telecom giant missed quarterly earnings estimates as the impact from the coronavirus hit earnings by $435 million.
The rally on Wall Street comes as some states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas begin to lift the lockdown measures imposed to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
Colorado became the latest state to join the reopening efforts and is set to get partial reopening underway on April 27.
Investor sentiment was also supported markets by expectations for a fresh wave of stimulus after lawmakers on Capitol Hill reached a deal on a $500 billion coronavirus package to further support the economy.