U.S. stocks posted the biggest weekly gain since 1974 as investors looked past staggering jobless numbers when the Federal Reserve released new measures to cushion the fallout from the coronavirus. Oil fell as investors saw a supply-curb proposal as insufficient.
The S&P 500 Index rallied for the third time in four days, bringing this week’s increase to 12%. The Fed announced another series of sweeping steps to provide as much as $2.3 trillion in additional aid just as data showed the number of claims for unemployment benefits surged for a third week. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said U.S. fatalities from Covid-19 may be far fewer than earlier projections.
