The daily business briefing: April 7, 2020

Stocks surge on hopes the coronavirus outbreak is slowing, two car insurers return money to customers due to lockdowns, and more

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1. Stocks rise on signs outbreak is slowing in some places

U.S. stocks soared on Monday as the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in the country appeared to slow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 7.7 percent. The S&P 500 rose by 7 percent, and the Nasdaq by 7.3 percent. There were 33,260 new cases on Saturday, and 28,200 on Sunday, according to the data from Johns Hopkins. Death rates slowed in Europe, reinforcing hopes that the pandemic, which has forced business closures that have ravaged the economy, could be nearing its peak. Peter Cecchini, the chief marketing strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the surge "doesn't necessarily reflect anything fundamental," but U.S. stock index futures pointed to further gains at Tuesday's open.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.