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Business Notes: Surge Of Optimism For Investors

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- In today's Business Notes, there are more indications the surge in the coronavirus outbreak may be flattening.

That has led Gov. Tom Wolf other governors to begin talking about how to reopen the economy.

And that talk led to a surge of optimism for investors on a day the big banks indicated they are putting billions of dollars to the side to handle anticipated loan defaults.

JP Morgan reported a decline in profits as it set aside nearly $7 billion to handle possible defaults.

It is also forecasting a 25 to 40 percent drop in the economy and as much as a 20 percent unemployment rate in the second quarter.

Johnson & Johnson did report a surge in profits as some of its products and over-the-counter medications are in high demand.

However, the company expects to see a drop in sales during this second quarter, and then a rebound in the third.

Also, J&J is trying to develop a vaccine against the virus and hopes to begin human trials in September, with hopes to have it ready early next year.

Two other drug companies, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, announced they are working together to develop a vaccine.

They believe their joint effort could lead to coming up with a vaccine based on their previous work on similar viruses and the ability to immediately produce a vaccine.

Any vaccine would be welcomed the news, as the International Monetary Fund announced Tuesday the world economy is in a recession, the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression.

Again, investors shrugged off that kind of news and instead chose to be optimistic.

Here are the closing numbers on Wall Street.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a gain of 559 points.

The NASDAQ registered a triple-digit gain of 323 points.

And, the S&P 500 was up 84 points.

For awhile today the Dow was above 24,000, a level not seen since March 11.

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