The U.S. stock market kicked off the final day of a turbulent second quarter with big gains for a third straight session, as investors continued to downgrade the fallout of the Brexit vote.
At the 4 p.m. ET close, the S&P 500 stood was up 1.4% higher. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had posted its best back-to-back point gains since last August following the Brexit-driven sell-off Friday and Monday, gained another 235 points, or 1.3%. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.3%.
Stock market gains picked up after Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the central bank would likely have to inject fresh stimulus this summer to offset the downside economic risks of the Brexit vote.
Wall Street was also looking beyond Brexit, and began shifting its focus to key coming events stateside, such as the June employment report next week and the start of the quarterly corporate earnings season.
It has been a wild finish to the April-thru-June quarter. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index entered the final day of the second quarter clinging to a quarterly gain of 0.5%. Wall Street and global markets were rocked last Thursday when Britain voted to leave the European Union, a surprise outcome that resulted in a spike in investor fear and a stock market sell-off that resulted in the worst two-day paper loss for global stock markets stocks ever. For the year so far, the large-company stock gauge is up 1.3%
Wall Street extended its Brexit rebound rally to a third day.
The fear level of investors has come down sharply as financial markets around the globe have stabilized in recent days.
"The calm continues (as stocks) ... are in the process of consolidating their post-panic relief gains," David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff noted via e-mail.
Still, uncertainty still abounds in global markets given the still high level of political and economic risks in the U.K. and Europe following the Brexit vote last week. Political confusion continued in Britain Thursday after ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson, a backer of the "leave" campaign in last week's Brexit vote said he would not seek the Prime Minister's job.
Market stability was visible again in the United Kingdom and Europe Thursday. The FSTE 100 stock index in London was 2.3% higher. The British pound, which had been pounded to a 31-year low vs. the U.S. dollar, was trading down about 1%.
The broad Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1%.
Oil prices were falling. U.S. produced-crude was down almost 2% to $49.01 per barrel.
