Stocks rally from Hong Kong to Wall Street on reopening hope

Stocks rallied worldwide on Tuesday as more countries relaxed restrictions on businesses, raising hopes for a recovery from the historic plunge that is sweeping the global economy.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8% in early afternoon trading following similar gains in Paris, London and Hong Kong. Crude oil also continued its mini-rally after falling to record lows last month.

In California, some retail businesses could begin serving customers again as early as Friday, under some restrictions. Many European countries have also begun relaxing strict orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, while waiting to see if it leads to a resurgence in infections. In Asia, the first pitches of the South Korean baseball season thwacked into catchers’ mitts, albeit in stadiums with no fans in attendance.

“It is hard to be a raging pessimist when lockdowns are lifting in the next few weeks,” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 378 points, or 1.6%, at 24,123, as of 12:28 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq was up 1.9%.

The stock market has been rallying since late March, as investors look beyond the devastation that’s currently ravaging the global economy. They’re focusing instead on the prospects for a resumption of growth later in the year, as well as on the massive support for markets provided by the Federal Reserve. Many analysts are skeptical of the stock market’s rally, saying it’s overdone given all the uncertainty about how long the recession will last, but the S&P 500 has nevertheless more than halved its losses from its sell-off earlier in the year.

A report released Tuesday morning showed that the U.S. services industry shrank for the first time in a decade, but it caused barely a ripple in the stock or bond market. It wasn’t quite as terrible as...