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| - Beaten-down US stocks opened solidly higher Tuesday amid renewed hopes Washington lawmakers will agree on a massive stimulus package, while the G7 pledged to "do whatever is necessary" to restore growth. About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had recovered 6.9 percent, or 1,300 points, to 19,879.98. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 6.1 percent to 2,373.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 5.5 percent to 7,238.88. The early recovery came after another losing session Monday when the Senate failed to advance a nearly $2 trillion stimulus package amid partisan wrangling over how aid should be targeted to workers and corporations. But reports from Washington early Tuesday pointed to significant progress in the talks. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi -- who proposed her own, even larger rescue plan -- said a deal could be reached within a few hours, Bloomberg reported. G7 officials, meanwhile, said they are working cooperatively with "substantial and complementary packages" to help companies weather the impact. More companies announced belt-tightening measures and have drawn on credit lines amid an unprecedented economic hit following efforts by California, New York and numerous other states to shut down economic activity to limit the spread of the virus. General Motors and Twitter were among the companies that withdrew their financial forecasts, while Chevron slashed its 2020 capital spending by 20 percent to $16 billion and suspended its share repurchase program. jmb/hs
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