U.S. stocks rebound, with Dow spiking 450 points, as crude prices stabilize

Global markets on Wednesday rebounded following a wild, two-day drop in the price of oil that had unnerved stock investors and sent major indexes due south.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 456 points, or roughly 2%, to 23475.82, Wednesday. The blue-chip index had clawed back some of the 1,000 points it gave up the first two days of the week with help from technology stocks like Apple, Intel and Microsoft, and surprising gains from oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 2 and 3% respectively. European stocks surged across the board, as did most of Asia.

The Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 63 points, or 2.3%, to 2,799.31. The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished up 232 points, or 2.8%, to 8,495.38.

All 11 U.S. stock market sectors were positive, led by energy, technology and utilities. Nearly all 30 Dow blue chips gained.

West Texas intermediate crude oil, which sold for less than $0 a barrel earlier in the week, hovered near $11 on Wednesday on its June contract, a 21% gain. Global benchmark Brent crude, which briefly dipped to a 21-year-low early Wednesday, saw its price advance 6%, to $20.32 a barrel. The improvement remains a fraction of the $50 or so needed for a producer to make money.

The market surge on Wednesday is partly a response to the fact that several U.S. states, such as Georgia and Florida, announced they will begin to open up their economies in the coming days. New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo is beginning to outline the early stages of how his state, the hardest hit from the virus, will start to loosen restrictions.

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"Oil prices dropped to 20-year lows because 3.6 billion people, more than half of the world's population, are covered by lockdowns," said analyst Pavel Molchanov of Raymond James. "When we see milestones like economies beginning to open up, lockdowns being loosened or lifted altogether, that means those 3.6 billion people are starting to go back to work, back to school and there will be more cars on the road and more planes in the air with actual passengers. That means oil demand will begin to normalize. "

Wednesday's oil price recovery came on the heels of a U.S. Department of Energy report that said U.S. oil production last week fell to 12.2 million barrels per day. That is a, a 900,000 barrel-per-day drop from the record 13.1 million barrels that the U.S. produced daily last month.

"The falling rig count and collapse in prices are having its intended effect," said John Kilduff of Again Capital. "It's forcing oil operators to shut-in their wells due to low prices. It's beginning to clean out the glut in oil supply and restore the balance with demand. "

The global glut in oil has strained capacity. Giant oil tankers have become floating storage tanks, plying oceans with millions of barrels while they search for a place to unload the commodity. The U.S. fracking industry has been particularly hard hit by the low prices caused by oversupply, threatening to send many debt-laden operators into bankruptcy.

Large oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP saw their share prices increase Wednesday because their relatively strong financial position makes them more likely to weather an extended slowdown in consumption.

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he would "never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down," adding that he instructed Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to make funds available for the struggling sector.

But analysts were skeptical of how much help Trump and his administration could offer. When oil sells at $0 or below - and it went as low as negative $30 over the two days - that means producers have so many barrels stockpiled, they're paying consumers to take it off their hands. It's an ominous sign for the economic recovery, analysts say.

"The supply-and-demand balance for oil is so out of whack that global demand cannot grow fast enough and suppliers can't cut supply quickly enough to put things back in order," said Frank Verrastro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There is so much oil sloshing around the world and so few people using it that there is no remedy. Even President's Trump toolbox looks bare."

The oil crisis emerged as U.S. companies already are dealing with one of the most challenging environments in their histories. Companies have begun a critical earnings season that will test how they are weathering the public health lockdown and what their outlook is for the remainder of the year.

Meanwhile in Washington, the Senate passed a $484 billion relief package to replenish a small-business loan program that's been overrun by demand and to devote more money to hospitals and coronavirus testing. The House could pass the bill as soon as Thursday.

Global exchanges also advanced Wednesday. The German DAX gained about 1% and London’s FTSE climbed 1.4%. Japan’s Nikkei was flat most of the day, but lost 0.7% at the day’s close and the HSI in Hong Kong did the opposite, riding gains for most of the day only to give back all but 0.4% just before the close of business. India’s BSE Sensex was the big gainer, up 2.4%.