Stocks bounce back following worst day since March

Stock markets on Friday attempted to recover ground after huge losses made Thursday the worst trading day since March, when the realities of the coronavirus pandemic first started to sink in.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 670 points early Friday, or 2.7 percent, after having fallen 1,861 points the day before.

The S&P 500 was up 73 points, or 2.4 percent, clawing back part of it previous 188 point-drop.

Markets have struggled to make sense of the coronavirus pandemic and its implications for the economy.

In March, many of the indexes reached low points that virtually erased all the wealth accumulated since President Trump took office in 2017.

In the past week, the Nasdaq composite reached new highs, and other major indexes had returned to levels last seen in October, just months before the pandemic hit.

But the optimism of a quick rebound from a fast-reopening economy, alongside positive news of potential vaccines, has been tempered by fears of a second spike in coronavirus cases and the expectations that the recession will leave deep scars on the economy, which is expected to see elevated unemployment through 2021.

Developing.