U.S. indexes record the largest monthly rally in decades

As we approach the end of the month, U.S. index markets are expected to experience their strongest monthly gains in decades. This comes at a time when the nation has become the epicentre of the virus situation, with nearly 1,100,000 cases of it.

This figure represents one-third of global infections and nearly 55,000 deaths, or a quarter of the total. These figures have resulted in the containment in almost all American states.

These closures have meant that the vast majority of retail businesses are now closed, with only services or operations remaining open, while all others are forced to work from home. As a result, around 19 million people in the United States are reported to have signed up for unemployment in the last month, meaning that this is the largest unemployment crisis in the history of the world's largest economy.

Market response

Although life in the U.S. has changed dramatically in recent weeks, leading to several key fundamental indicators showing that the state of the economy is at its worst point in history, the indices have continued to rise.

In April 2019, the S&P 500 gained close to 12%, which is considered the largest one-month increase since 1988. The Dow Jones rose by nearly 9.9%, the largest since 2003. Finally, the NASDAQ, which sees its largest companies announcing their quarterly earnings this week, rose 12.9%, which is also the largest one-month increase since 2003.

As for the NASDAQ, which posted the largest percentage increase of all major U.S. indexes, this figure could continue to rise this week. This is due to the fact that several of the world's largest companies, such as APPLE and Microsoft, are preparing to announce their numbers for the first quarter of the year.

What companies are releasing quarterly financial reports this week?

In addition to NASDAQ-listed companies, there are a host of other large companies in the US and around the world that will be lifting the veil to show the markets how they have performed during this historic period of panic.

Here is a list of the major companies that will be releasing their performance this week:

Tuesday: Alpahabet, Ford, Starbucks, Pepsi
Wednesday: Microsoft, Facebook
Thursday: Apple, Amazon
Friday: AON, Exxon Mobil, Chevron

Wednesday will also see the FOMC decision on rates, where Jerome Powell, who cut rates twice last month, will take stock of what the FED plans to do with new monetary policy measures.

Depending on the performance of some of these companies, and any potential movement by the Fed, U.S. markets could enter May this year to recoup the majority of the losses incurred as a result of COVID-19. However, if significant losses are revealed, the current market increases could soon turn into declines.