NEW YORK (AP) – Wall Street’s enthusiasm about the reopening economy sent stocks scrambling even higher on Monday, and the Nasdaq composite wiped away the last of its coronavirus-induced losses to set a record.
The broader S&P 500 is now up slightly for the year and back within 4.5% of its own record as optimism strengthens that the worst of the recession may have already passed. Stocks that would benefit most from an economy that’s growing again rose the most, including smaller companies, airlines and oil producers.
As more retailers and restaurants reopen, mall and shopping center operators continued to surge Monday on the hopes that rent collections will improve this month.
Chattanooga-based CBL Properties, which announced Friday that there’s “substantial doubt” it will continue to operate as a going concern within about a year, continued to gain in market value with shares of CBL rising another 19% in Nasdaq trading Monday following the 31.2% increase in CBL’s stock prices last Friday. Since its May 15 low of just 20 cents a share, CBL shares have more than doubled in value even as the company reports that it is collecting only 25-30% of its rental payments in the past two moths.
The S&P 500 rallied 38.46 points, or 1.2%, to 3,232.39 and is at its highest level since February, which a panel of economists said on Monday is the month when the recession officially began. That’s when employment set a peak before tumbling after businesses shut down across the country to slow the outbreak.