The year 2020 will be forever etched in the minds of citizens around the world.
The stock market was not the main channel for responding to the pandemic and social unrest that emerged, but it was a way that Wall Street interpreted the spreading contagion rhythm and the human ingenuity that quickly brought medicines and cures to combat COVID -19.
Here are some of the main moments of a year that saw the DJIA Dow Jones Industrial Average,
end with an annual gain of around 7%, despite plunging into a bear market for eight months. The S&P 500 SPX index,
recorded a return of almost 16% in 2020, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
rose 43.4% and the Russell 2000 small cap RUT index,
rose 19% in the year.
FactSet
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January 2 marked the first day of trading in 2020 and the Dow recorded an increase of 330 points, apparently unrelated as the central bank of China increased stimulus measures amid the viral outbreak that was first reported in Wuhan and it was just a glimpse of what would become Globo.
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Dow records a closing high on February 12. The S&P 500 ends at an all-time high on February 19th.
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On February 28, the Dow, S&P 500 suffered the worst weekly drop since 2008, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying that the central bank is “closely monitoring” the spread of the coronavirus.
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On March 3, the Fed announced a half-percentage point cut in the exchange rate half an hour after trading began, saying that while the fundamentals of the economy remain strong, “coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity”. (Several other central banks around the world also cut rates)
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March 11, Dow ends in bear market territory for the first time in more than a decade, after the World Health Organization designates the global spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic.
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March 12, Dow marks its worst day since the 1987 crash. As the risks of recession caused by viruses increase (market volatility has started to trigger limited trades to mitigate sales.)
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On March 15, the Fed cut interest rates by a full percentage point on a Sunday night to close to 0% and started a series of programs designed to contain faltering credit markets and support the economy.
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March 23, the stock market reaches its lowest point in the pandemic era.
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March 26, investors take comfort in the overnight move of a historic $ 2 trillion economic stimulus effort on the same day that a report showed that a record 3.28 million Americans applied for benefits unemployment
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April 3, inventories end in decline 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 biggest drop in the US gross domestic product since 2008. GDP, the official score for economic growth, has shrunk at an annualized rate of 4.8%.
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May 25: George Floyd’s death causes social unrest around the world.
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The National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER, in June says that a 128-month expansion – the longest date in 1854 – was halted in February, starting a recession.
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June 5: Investors celebrate a May job report that unexpectedly showed a 2.5 million increase in non-farm payroll and a drop 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 rose intraday.
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June 16: Data show that sales at US retailers increased by 17.7% in May, when the economy began to reopen and pave the way for what was probably the shortest and deepest recession in American history.
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November 9: Trump’s vaccine secretary says the first vaccine should be sent for emergency clearance around Thanksgiving
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November 15: Trump acknowledges President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections for the first time – then says he “does not grant anything”, repeating the baseless claim of “rigged” voting
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November 17: Moderna Inc. said its vaccine candidate COVID-19 achieved its primary goal in the initial analysis of data from a Phase 3 trial, demonstrating 94.5% effectiveness
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December 3: the United Kingdom authorizes the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
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December 11: FDA grants emergency authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
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December 18: FDA authorizes Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Quote of the year:
“The coronavirus outbreak will be temporary and will not change the long-term improvement of the Chinese economy,” said Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of PBOC, at a news conference in February.
“I tell investors to hold on, because this is the opportunity,” Diane Jaffee, senior portfolio manager at TCW told MarketWatch in late February.
“Monetary policy is an unlikely cure for coronavirus,” said Mike LaBella, head of investment strategy for QS Investors, an affiliate of Legg Mason, in a March statement as the Fed conducted its first emergency rate cut in response to the coronavirus outbreak, eight days before WHO declared the new coronavirus strain a pandemic.