The year 2020 will be etched forever in the minds of citizens around the globe.
The capital market was not the main conduit for the response to the pandemic and social unrest that arose, but it was a way for Wall Street to interpret the pace of the rapidly spreading contagion and the human ingenuity that quickly brought remedies and remedies to combat COVID- 19.
Here are some of the highlights of a year that saw DJIA Dow Jones Industrial Average,
it ends with an annual gain of about 7%, despite the fact that it entered a bear market eight months ago. S&P 500 SPX Index,
returned almost 16% in 2020, while the Nasdaq COMP Composite Index,
increased by 43.4%, and the Russell 2000 low-capitalization index RUT,
rose by 19% per year.
FactSet
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January 2 marked the first trading day in 2020, and the Dow rose 330 points, apparently ignoring as China’s central bank stepped up stimulus measures amid the first reported viral outbreak in Wuhan and it was just a glimmer of what would become of the globe.
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The Dow closes a close on February 12th. The S&P 500 ends with a record high on February 19.
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On February 28, the Dow, S&P 500, suffered its worst weekly decline since 2008, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank is “closely monitoring” the spread of the coronavirus.
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On March 3, the Fed announced that a half-percentage point rate cut by half an hour in the trading session, saying that while the fundamentals of the economy remain strong, “the coronavirus poses evolutionary risks to economic activity.” (A number of other central banks around the world are also reducing rates)
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On March 11, the Dow ended in bear territory for the first time in more than a decade, after the World Health Organization designated the global spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic.
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On March 12, the Dow marks the worst day since the 1987 crash. As the risks of recession caused by viruses increase (Market volatility has begun to trigger downward trading to dampen sales).
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On March 15, the Fed cuts interest rates by a full percentage point on a Sunday night to nearly 0% and begins launching a number of programs designed to support bankrupt credit markets and support the economy.
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March 23, the stock market reaches the lowest point of the pandemic era.
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March 26, investors are relieved to spend overnight a historic $ 2 trillion economic stimulus effort on the same day a report showed that a record 3.28 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits
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April 3, stocks run out after the worst job report in 11 years, which showed 701,000 Americans lost their jobs in March.
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April 29 marks the largest decline in gross domestic product in the US since 2008. GDP, the official scoreboard of economic growth, fell at an annualized rate of 4.8%.
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May 25: George Floyd’s death causes social unrest around the globe.
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The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in June says a 128-month extension – the longest dating back to 1854 – stopped in February, beginning a recession.
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June 5: Investors cheer on a May job report, which unexpectedly showed a 2.5 million increase in non-farm wages and a fall in the unemployment rate. The Dow rose nearly 830 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 advanced 2.6% and the Nasdaq Composite peaked during the day.
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June 16: Data shows US retailers rose 17.7% in May as the economy began to reopen and move away from what was likely to be the shortest and deepest recession. from American history.
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November 9: Trump’s vaccine tsar says first vaccine should be sent for emergency clearance around Thanksgiving
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November 15: Trump first acknowledges victory in 2020 election for President-elect Joe Biden – then says he “admits nothing”, repeating the unfounded statement of the “rigged” vote
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November 17: Moderna Inc. stated that its candidate for COVID-19 vaccine met its primary objective in the initial analysis of data from a phase 3 study, demonstrating an efficacy of 94.5%
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December 3: UK clears COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
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December 11: FDA grants emergency authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
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December 18: FDA clears Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Quotes of the year:
“The coronavirus epidemic will be temporary and will not change the long-term improvement of China’s economy,” PBOC Vice Governor Pan Gongsheng said in a February news briefing.
“I’m telling investors to stay there, because this is the opportunity,” said Diane Jaffee, TCW’s senior portfolio manager at MarketWatch in late February.
“Monetary policy is an unlikely remedy for coronavirus,” Mike LaBella, head of investment strategy at QS Investors, a Legg Mason affiliate, said in a March statement as the Fed made its first emergency rate cut as response to the coronavirus outbreak, eight days before the WHO declared the new pandemic coronavirus strain.