Stocks rally even as COVID-19 cases rise past 50 million

The S&P 500 rose 7.3 percent last week, its biggest weekly increase since April.

Most media attention last week was on the US presidential election, which former vice president Joe Biden ultimately won.

“The market is just getting more comfortable with the outcome of a divided government, where we see a continuation of political gridlock [and] no meaningful changes on tax policy,” said Dan Eye, head of asset allocation and equity research at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

Markets largely shrugged off the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic last week.

That may yet turn out to be a mistake, as global infections passed 50 million on Sunday.

Europe, with about 12 million cases, is the worst affected region, with countries such as Germany, France and the UK in various degrees of lockdown.

The US, which passed 10 million cases on Sunday, is the worst affected country. It reported a record 131,420 COVID-19 cases on Saturday and president-elect Joe Biden pledged on Saturday to make tackling the pandemic a top priority.