Monthly Archive: April 2020

A worse-than-expected hit to U.S. GDP announced Wednesday couldn’t stop North American stock markets from continuing their powerful rebound from the coronavirus crash, with all major indices surging more than two per cent for the day.

April is now on course to become only the third month since 1991 to see the S&P 500 return more than 10 per cent. But rather than rejoice at a surge that has seen the S&P 500 jump more than 31 per cent  since the bottom in March, many market analysts and money managers are instead wary — and preaching caution to investors.

“The idea that the stock market can run and have nothing to do with income streams is a head scratcher,” said Sam Labell, Veritas Investment Research’s head of research. “A 10 per cent correction is not out of the question.”

Wednesday’s gains appeared to be driven by a positive update from

Alphabet Inc. on Tuesday beat analysts’ estimate for quarterly revenue as its Google unit experienced a smaller drop-off in advertiser spending than had been anticipated given economic concerns related to the novel coronavirus.

Shares of Alphabet rose 3.5 per cent to US$1,275 following the after-hours release of financial results. Alphabet shares were down about 8 per cent this year at Tuesday’s close.

A booming economy and rising internet usage have driven Google to record revenues in the last few years. But the virus has split those two trends, with consumer spending now plunging and reliance on internet services surging.

“Performance was strong during the first two months of the quarter, but then in March we experienced a significant slowdown in ad revenues,” Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in a press release.

Alphabet’s overall revenue in the first quarter was US$41.2 billion, up 13 per cent compared with the

NEW YORK — Wall Street gained more than 1 per cent on Monday at the onset of a hectic earnings week, as investors turned a hopeful eye toward several U.S. states that are relaxing shutdown restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All three major U.S. stock averages advanced, and are all now within 20 per cent of their record closing highs reached in February, with the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its best month since 1987, after trillions of stimulus dollars helped U.S. equities claw back much of the ground lost since the coronavirus crisis brought the economy to a grinding halt.

But some analysts believe gains may be limited unless there is progress in finding treatments for the disease.

Several states have begun easing stay-at-home restrictions, in efforts to revive economies and get Americans back to work following crushing job losses.

“In