Equity markets rallied Monday as governments across the world started to ease coronavirus lockdown measures, but oil prices tumbled as a supply glut overwhelmed output cuts.
US markets followed Asia and Europe higher after virus figures from some of the worst-hit countries provided hope that the peak of the crisis may have passed.
Stocks kicked off the week “in optimistic fashion,” said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG trading group.
Ending lockdowns means one step towards the resumption of economic activity.
Germany on Monday said it had seen the slowest pace of infections and deaths since March 29.
In Italy, wholesale stores and restaurants will be allowed to resume business on May 4, Spain on Sunday let children play outside, and Swiss hairdressers, massage parlors, florists and garden centers are reopening.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a first stage of a reopening would start on May 15 if hospitalizations decreased.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain was beginning to “turn the tide” but it was too early to ease the lockdown.
Despite the gains, plenty of commentators are skeptical that the rally can continue. “Ultimately the stock market is in a mode of blocking out bad news right now and is squeezing the ‘worst is behind us’ narrative for all it is worth,” Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said, warning that the market had become “divorced from fundamental reality.”
