Wall Street jumps on glimmers of economic recovery; Dow, S&P rise over 2%

Wall Street surged on Tuesday as a record jump in retail sales indicated the US economy is on the road to recovery, five months into its pandemic-inflicted recession.

All three major US stock indexes were sharply higher, and on course for their third consecutive daily gains.

The Dow and the S&P remain about 11 per cent  and 8 per cent  below their respective record closing highs reached in February, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq hovers about 1 per cent  below its all-time closing high reached on June 10.

Data released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales jumped by a record 17.7 per cent