Wall Street Close: Benchmarks higher in corrective and choppy markets

US benchmarks ended modestly higher following another volatile day on Wall Street while investors weighed the various pledges and support for the economic form the central banks and governments around the world in the face of the worst prospects for the world since the world wars and the great depression.

In the last 24-hours, we have seen the Federal Reserve announce a facility to backstop money-market mutual funds while the European Central Bank rolled out an expanded asset-purchase program. The US Federal Reserve announced that it has established temporary USD swap lines with Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Korea, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand Singapore and Sweden.

Subsequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 188.27 points, or 1%, to 20,081.19 and the S&P 500 SPX climbed 0.5%, or 11.29 points, to end at 2,409.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP put on 160.73 points, or 2.3% to end the session at 7,150.58. The moves followed Wednesday's drop in the DJIA of 1,338.46 points, or 6.3%, to end at 19,898.92, for its lowest close since Feb. 2nd.

US data result in recessionary numbers

The March Phili Fed manufacturing index plunged 48 points to -12.7. "The new orders diffusion index fell to -15.5 vs 33.3, the number of new employees fell to 4.1 vs 9.8 and the average workweek fell to 0.5 vs 10.3," analysts at ANZ bank explained, adding, "The releases were accompanied by a sharp rise in the initial claims data of 70k to 281k. That captures the very early stages of the COVID-19 impact on jobs and will rise sharply in weeks to come as businesses give workers a temporary leave of absence and lay-offs rise. The rapid of recession, the duration of which will depend on slowing the spread of the virus, is upon us."

DJIA levels