'Light at the end of the tunnel': Stocks surge as fewer new coronavirus cases signal lockdowns are working

• Stocks soared on Tuesday as investors cheered signs that lockdowns are helping to beat back the novel coronavirus.
• Italy, France, Spain, and New York have seen fewer new cases in recent days.
• "This does not mean that the confinement measures will be withdrawn soon, but it allows investors to see the light at the end of the tunnel," one analyst said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

  ---

Global stocks jumped on Tuesday as investors celebrated signs that lockdowns are slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Italy, France, Spain, and New York have seen a decline in new cases in the past few days. The trend suggests government initiatives to reduce transmission of the virus - such as closing non-essential businesses and ordering people to stay at home - are working.

Shares in travel and leisure companies surged on hopes that containment measures will be lifted sooner than expected. In London, EasyJet stock soared 24%, Carnival rose 24%, British Airways-parent IAG rose 12%, and Cineworld surged 45%.

"New coronavirus cases in some of the world's hotspots are plateauing," Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said in a morning note on Tuesday.

"This does not mean that the confinement measures will be withdrawn soon, but it allows investors to see the light at the end of the tunnel," she added.

Here's the market roundup as of 10:55 a.m. in London (5:55 a.m. ET):

• European equities jumped, with Germany's DAX up 3.5%, Britain's FTSE 100 up 3%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 up 2.9%.
• Asian indexes closed higher with China's Shanghai Composite up 2.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 2.1%, and Japan's Nikkei up 2%.
• US stocks are set to open higher. Futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq rose between 2.2% and 3%.
• Oil prices rose, with West Texas Intermediate up 3.8% at $27.10, and Brent crude up 2.5% at $33.90.
• The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to about 0.74%.
• Gold rose 0.4% to $1,701.
• Bitcoin jumped 3.6% to roughly $7,380.