Investors See Upside of Pandemic Numbers

Stocks shot 3.4% higher Wednesday on Wall Street as investors chose to focus on the optimistic side of data about the coronavirus outbreak's trajectory, the AP reports. It's the latest about-face in this brutally volatile stretch for the US stock market, which has flip-flopped between gains and losses for six straight days. The up moves have recently been bigger than the downward swings, though, amid signs that deaths and infections may be nearing a peak or plateau in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas. The S&P 500 has jumped nearly 23% since it hit a low two and a half weeks ago. (More Wall Street stories.)