By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - A rally on Wall Street continued Thursday thanks to a massive U.S. stimulus package.
The Senate on Wednesday backed a $2 trillion bill aimed at helping jobless workers and industries reeling from the virus, with the package heading for the House of Representatives for vote on Friday.
The money at stake in the stimulus bill amounts to nearly half of the $4.7 trillion the U.S. government spends annually.
But it comes against a backdrop of bad news as the coronavirus spreads and more signs of economic damage.
Heading into Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 13% in two days for its first back-to-back gain since February in anticipation of the stimulus.
Yet, much of the large gains in stock markets in recent days pale in comparison with the brutal selloff of the past few weeks.
The Dow is still down almost 28% from its record peak hit just over a month ago.
It’s clear at this point that more than just a financial crisis is unfolding before us. This is first and foremost a health crisis, and unless President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell can come up with a coronavirus vaccine, there's very little more stimulus can do to cure a global pandemic.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report