Stocks climb as oil prices plummet, social distancing extends

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US stocks edged higher Monday after President Trump extended his administration’s social-distancing guidelines to April 30, with investors continuing to gauge the fallout from the relentless spread of the coronavirus. The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 532.35 points, or 2.4 percent, by midday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite increased as …

US stocks edged higher Monday after President Trump extended his administration’s social-distancing guidelines to April 30, with investors continuing to gauge the fallout from the relentless spread of the coronavirus.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 532.35 points, or 2.4 percent, by midday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite increased as much as 2.5 and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Monday’s gains marked a rebound from the Friday selloff in which the Dow shed more than 900 points despite Trump signing the $2 trillion stimulus package Congress passed to blunt the virus’ economic impact. The massive stimulus deal nonetheless helped the blue-chip index close the week up 2,462.80 points, or 12.8 percent, its best weekly gain since 1938.

“The headlines continue to be ugly but you also get a sense last week was a structural change in terms of maybe a turning point,” said Michael Cuggino, president and portfolio manager at the Permanent Portfolio Family of Funds. “There was going to be bad news ahead but everybody understands that.”

Still, experts warn Wall Street will soon shed any sense of relief that stimulus measures have provided as the number of virus cases continues to climb in the US and elsewhere.

“While they may soften the blow of any downturn, they stand no chance of preventing it altogether and a global recession is coming,” Craig Erlam, senior currency analyst at OANDA, wrote in a commentary. “The hope though is that these measures will ensure it is as brief as possible and maybe even turbo charge the recovery.”

Trump’s Sunday move to maintain coronavirus mitigation measures renewed questions about when the US economy would get moving again amid the pandemic that has killed more than 2,500 people in the country. The feds reported a record number of weekly jobless claims last week as many states forced all but essential businesses to close.

But experts say investors likely anticipated the extension even though Trump had said he wanted the country open for business again by Easter on April 12. Trump admitted that the deadline was “just an aspiration.”

“I don’t think the market was pricing in getting back to normal by mid-April,” said Eric Marshall, director of research at Hodges Capital Management. “Otherwise the stocks would be up a lot more last week than they were.”

Wall Street also appeared to take some encouragement Monday from progress in the search for a coronavirus vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson said Monday it plans to start testing its potential vaccine in humans by September, and Gilead Sciences on Saturday said it would expand access to its new antiviral medicine that may help treat the disease. Johnson & Johnson shares jumped as much as 7.5 percent Monday while Gilead’s rose as much as 4.8 percent.

“If you get the health issues under control, I think that’s gonna go a long way towards alleviating the markets, and that’s a positive step if some of those vaccination initiatives come to fruition,” Cuggino said.

The rise in stocks was accompanied by a steep drop in oil prices, which have plummeted thanks to low demand due to the coronavirus crisis and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell below $20 a barrel for the first time in about two decades and was down 5.6 percent at $20.29 as of 11:48 a.m. Brent crude was recently off 13.1 percent at $21.66 a barrel.