U.S. stocks made gains Thursday, ending the week on an upswing before the equity exchanges closed in observance of Good Friday.
The optimism was buoyed by the Federal Reserve announcement of a new $2.3 trillion stimulus for its lending programs, aimed at boosting the economy.
Major financial market indexes showed gains across the board.
The S&P 500 was up 1.4% to end at 2,790. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 286 points, or 1.2%, to finish around 23,719. The Nasdaq climbed 0.8% to finish around 8,154.
For the week, the S&P is up 12.1%, the Dow is up 12.7%, and the Nasdaq is up 10.6%.
Europe's major stock indexes were mostly trading in positive territory Thursday, continuing the upswing enjoyed earlier in the day in Asia.
London's FTSE ended the day up 2.9% at 5,842, and the DAX index in Frankfurt finished up 2.24% at 10,5645, while Paris' CAC-40 rose 1.44% to end at 4,506.
Australia, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai all posted gains at the end of their trading days.
But Japan's Nikkei index lost a fraction of 1% as the country faces an increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 infections.
The oil market oscillated Thursday, with prices rising early in the day after major oil producers agreed to cut the output for two months. But the gains were lost amid worries that it won't be enough to offset a low demand as people around the world stay under lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gold futures rallied to reach their highest level in more than seven years on Thursday, profiting from the decline of the U.S. dollar following the news of the Federal Reserve's new lending plans.
Another 6.6 million Americans claimed unemployment benefits in the past week, but the Fed's lending programs for small and medium-sized businesses are intended to offset these losses. More than 700,000 U.S. workers lost jobs in March.
