By Nicholas Jasinski |  Wednesday, April 22

Oil Under the Bridge. The promise of a fresh dose of fiscal stimulus and a partial rebound in bloodied oil markets combined to boost stocks today, following Monday and Tuesday's losses.

The S&P 500 rose 2.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.8%. Each index had dropped nearly 5% over the first two days of the week.

It was a near mirror image of yesterday's market action: All 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by momentum-driven technology shares.

Even oil had a good day, following a spectacular collapse that saw the price turn negative on Monday before the May contract for West Texas Intermediate crude expired. The June contract for WTI settled up 19.1% today, at $13.78 a barrel, while the contract for Brent, the international benchmark, settled up 5.4%, at $20.37 a barrel.

Those prices are still down sharply from the start of the year, and underline the dearth of demand for oil in a coronavirus-hobbled economy.

The Senate passed a nearly $500 billion stimulus bill last night that includes additional funding for small business payroll-protection loans and money to help hospitals and to expand coronavirus testing. The House could vote on the measure tomorrow.

Other stock action today was largely in reaction to companies' earnings releases. Netflix shares fell almost 3% today after it reported a double-the-forecast 15.8 million jump in new subscribers in the first quarter last night. The stock has soared more than 40% since the start of the year, and it's fair to say a spectacular outcome was already priced in. It also didn't help that management warned that usage of the streaming service would likely decline as stay-at-home orders are lifted in the U.S. and abroad.

Snapchat has also been a major beneficiary of people spending more time in front of their screens during the coronavirus pandemic. Shares of its parent company, Snap, soared almost 37% today after last night's report showed 20% growth in daily users and 44% higher revenue than in the same quarter last year.

Delta Air Lines stock fell about 3% today after its earnings report this morning. The airline had its first quarterly loss in over five years, reporting a net loss of $534 million in the first quarter on an 18% drop in revenue. 

 AT&T proved itself both a beneficiary and a victim of the coronavirus crisis today. Its core wireless phone business had a strong first quarter, with many customers stepping up to higher-priced plans. But advertising revenue slumped at WarnerMedia, making the overall impact a wash. Earnings and revenue were essentially flat from a year ago. AT&T stock ended the day down just over 1%.

Other notable releases came from Kimberly-Clark and Biogen today. On tap for tomorrow are reports from Intel, Southwest Airlines, and 20 other S&P 500 components.