The effect of 2020 on Wall Street

Gulf Today Report

From the pandemic crashing the stocks at the beginning to gradual growth following the development of a vaccine, Wall Street had a wild year.

Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial described it as “a year of extreme extremes.”

The crash

It started with a steady January and February then the collapse happened in March. 

New York indices took on water, the Dow Jones Industrial recorded a 13 per cent fall in March, its third-worst session in history since the 1929 Great Depression and 1987 crash.

The crash pushed Wall Street into a “bear” market, recording more than 20 per cent fall from its recent highs due to investors fear. 

Recovery

Wall Street recorded recovery between April to September, the markets were almost at pre-pandemic levels in August.

At the forefront of the recovery were tech giants, their share prices gained more than 80 per cent. 

Other companies that had booming market during the pandemic were video conferencing platform, cleaning agent producers and food companies.

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With lockdown came a lot of free time, small investors used up some of that time to push up shares of a lot of companies. 

However, sectors such as hotels, airline and oil majors that thrive on a healthy economy suffered.

July came with recession for the United States and thousands of deaths from the virus.

Goodbye, Trump

Markets changed route in September, focusing on the US presidential election, increase in coronavirus cases and development of a vaccine. 

President Donald Trump, who prioritize the health of Wall Street lost the election to Joe Biden.

In 2017, Trump enacted a big tax cut that increased profits.

However, the US-China trade war has affected some companies to the point of them struggling. 

Trump’s loss didn’t affect Wall Street, the Dow closed above 30,000 points for the first time on November 24. 

2021

The days ahead are looking better for the US economy following the approval of COVID-19 vaccine in December, rising stocks of healthcare sectors.

They are both expected to gain tremendously in the new year. 

Tech companies are likely to continue growing as interest ib cloud computing, 5G capabilities and artificial intelligence piques.

President-elect Biden might refocus Washington policymakers' interest in protecting the environment, and that decision is likely to affect the markets.