Wednesday's early trade: Wall Street climbs

Wall Street rose on Wednesday on hopes the coronavirus outbreak in the United States was close to its peak and expectations that Congress will inject hundreds of billions more in the battered economy.
President Donald Trump said late on Tuesday the United States might be getting to the top of the "curve" in relation to the outbreak, even as New York and several other states posted their highest number of daily virus-related fatalities.
"The stock markets are forward looking, so there's anticipation that, hopefully sooner rather than later, the death count will be less than anticipated," said Marc Pfeffer, chief investment officer at CLS Investments in Westchester County, New York.
The benchmark S&P 500 is down nearly 20% from its record high in mid February, despite big gains early this week, as measures to contain the virus brought the US economy to a virtual halt.
Tesla Inc and Boeing Co supplier Spirit AeroSystems became the latest companies to furlough workers as the pandemic forces the closure of US production facilities.
Democratic Congressional leaders said on Wednesday they would back the Trump administration's request for another $250 billion in aid for small businesses.
The package would add to the $2.3 trillion in stimulus already approved and meant to make up for the wages and incomes lost after Americans were ordered to stay home.
Early gains on Tuesday were led by the energy index as oil companies rose tracking crude prices and risk appetite was boosted by the prospect of more fiscal stimulus.
At 10:36 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 223.03 points, or 0.98%, at 22,876.89, the S&P 500 was up 25.20 points, or 0.95%, at 2,684.61 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 67.94 points, or 0.86%, at 7,955.20.