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Wall Street: Stock Market Soars Despite Trade War Fears As Dow Jones Rockets 670 Points

By Samantha Chang
Published on: 11:40 PST, Mar 26, 2018

The bulls returned to Wall Street Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 670 points. The stock market, which plunged last week amid fears of a trade war between the United States and China, rebounded up 2.85 percent, to close at 24,203.

The DJIA notched its third-biggest point gain ever, buoyed by news that the U.S. and China are open to negotiating to avoid an ugly trade war. The rally was led by a robust performance by the technology sector.

Microsoft was the best-performing stock of the Dow, soaring more than 7 percent following an upgrade by Morgan Stanley, CNBC reported. Financial experts were encouraged by the Wall Street rally but warned that things could change very quickly.

“Certainly nothing’s settled,” Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, told the Associated Press.

“Investors are still viewing this as a glass half-full market and a constructive economy, so it’s not surprising to see them buy on value here, buy on dips to try to rebuild their positions.”

While Microsoft shot up, social media giant Facebook struggled, tanking as much as 6 percent during the day before closing the day up 0.42 percent. Here’s the tale of the tape for March 26:

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,198.10 (+2.83 percent)
  • Nasdaq: 6,754.54 (+3.79 percent)
  • S&P 500 Index: 2,657.90 (+2.69 percent)

Facebook’s stock continued to get hammered amid an avalanche of negative news surrounding its data breach scandal. Facebook is accused of allowing research firm Cambridge Analytica to improperly access personal data on 50 million users without their consent.

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission announced it is investigating Facebook’s data practices. The agency revealed the following in a statement.

“The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices.”

Facebook could be fined $40,000 a day per violation if the FTC concludes it breached a 2011 consent decree under which the social media juggernaut agreed to obtain user permission before sharing their data with third parties.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also asked to testify before Congress, as Senator Chuck Grassley — chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — scheduled a hearing on data privacy on April 10.

Zuckerberg denied any wrongdoing, but the damage to the brand’s goodwill is undeniable as the #DeleteFacebook hashtag picked up steam on Twitter.

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