Stocks Soar After Strong Retail Sales And Reported Trump Infrastructure Plan

By Avie Schneider

Published June 16, 2020 at 10:02 AM EDT

Marie Biscarra, co-owner of ISSO fashion boutique in San Francisco, writes a sign declaring her business open for curbside delivery on May 18. Retail sales jumped a record 17.7% last month.

Updated at 4:05 p.m. ET

U.S. stock markets surged Tuesday after reports that retail sales rebounded strongly in May and that the Trump administration is preparing an infrastructure plan to boost the economy, which has been battered by the coronavirus crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up for the third trading day in a row. The blue chip index closed 526 points higher, or 2%, and the S&P 500 climbed 1.9%.

Retail sales soared 17.7% in May as states reopened their economies, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Despite the rebound from historic drops in March and April, sales were still down from a year earlier.

The stock market also got a boost from a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration was preparing a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan. The report, citing unnamed sources, said that in addition to roads and bridges, the draft plan would also fund 5G wireless infrastructure and rural broadband.