Dow jumps 900 points as coronavirus deaths slow

Stock markets on Tuesday continued to rise for the second day in a row after the number of new daily coronavirus cases dropped from peak levels late last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 900 points (4 percent) in the first minutes of trading, adding to a 1,627-point (7.7 percent) gain on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 92 points (3.5 percent), after rising 175 points (7 percent) on Monday.

While the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. passed 10,000 on Monday, markets appeared to focus more on news that the daily number of confirmed cases had begun to drop.

“Those are all good signs and again would suggest a possible flattening of the curve,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said of the figures during a press conference on Monday. The daily death toll in New York dropped from 630 on Saturday to 599 on Monday, though experts warned that a few more days of data were needed to establish a trend.

Economy watchers are hoping the tough social distancing and lockdown measures that have tanked the economy will ease once the number of new cases drop to manageable levels and testing ramps up.

This developing report will be updated.