U.S. equity markets soared in the final hour of trading as President Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus and enlisted the nation's biggest companies in the fight.

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A HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE DOW'S BIGGEST SWINGS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by over 1,985 points or 9.3 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also rallied over 9 percent.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 27657.42 -244.56 -0.88% SP500 S&P 500 3319.47 -37.54 -1.12% I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 10793.28193 -116.99 -1.07%

Google, Walmart, Target, CVS and others will assist health officials in combating the outbreak and helping with procedures and testing.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 1,451.09 -35.95 -2.42% WMT WALMART INC. 135.29 -1.40 -1.02% TGT TARGET CORP. 148.82 +1.21 +0.82% CVS CVS HEALTH CORPORATION 59.57 +1.16 +1.99%

The major averages rebounded from a Thursday selloff that was their steepest since the Black Monday crash of 1987. All three lost at least 9.5 percent amid an avalanche of cancelations and postponement of large social gatherings and sporting events aimed at slowing the spread of the new coronavirus.

Friday’s gains come as the U.S. Congress, which was supposed to recess on Friday, works overtime to pass a stimulus package. Meanwhile, reports indicate Europe is set to announce measures on Monday that could amount to 1 percent of gross domestic product.

Some of the hardest-hit corners of the market were among the biggest gainers on Friday.

The cruise operators Carnival Cruise Corp., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean Cruises, which have collectively seen nearly $50 billion -- or over 70 percent of their value -- erased amid the selloff, all gained at least 20 percent early in the session before paring their gains.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % CCL CARNIVAL CORP. 15.31 -0.93 -5.73% NCLH NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE HOLDINGS LTD. 16.25 -1.01 -5.85% RCL ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES 65.45 -3.30 -4.80%

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which have all lost more than half their value, were up at least 10 percent before pulling back.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % AAL AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. 13.19 -0.44 -3.23% DAL DELTA AIR LINES INC. 32.84 -1.12 -3.30% UAL UNITED AIRLINES HLDG. 36.97 -1.39 -3.61%

The online travel-booking sites Expedia and Booking Holdings rose.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % EXPE EXPEDIA GROUP, INC. 93.80 -2.99 -3.09% BKNG BOOKING HOLDINGS INC. 1,732.28 -54.93 -3.07%

Bank stocks soared as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 0.920 percent and the yield curve steepened. Financial institutions make the majority of their money from the difference between interest paid to depositors -- who supply the money a bank lends -- and interest charged to borrowers.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % JPM JP MORGAN CHASE & CO. 98.35 -0.21 -0.21% BAC BANK OF AMERICA CORP. 25.21 -0.14 -0.55% C CITIGROUP INC. 44.86 -0.67 -1.47% WFC WELLS FARGO & COMPANY 25.13 +0.02 +0.08%

Big technology names, like Apple and Amazon were also in favor as Tesla shares dropped.

Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Company gained despite announcing the closure of both its Disney World and Disneyland theme parks.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % AAPL APPLE INC. 106.84 -3.50 -3.17% AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 2,954.91 -53.82 -1.79% TSLA TESLA INC. 442.15 +18.72 +4.42% DIS WALT DISNEY COMPANY 128.63 -1.59 -1.22%

On the earnings front, Gap reported better-than-expected top- and bottom-line results but warned it would take a $100 million revenue hit in the current quarter due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Elsewhere, Slack Technologies, the workplace-messaging platform expected to benefit from more employees using technology to connect as they work from home during the outbreak, gave a disappointing first-quarter revenue forecast sending shares lower.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % GPS GAP 16.79 -0.11 -0.65% WORK SLACK TECHNOLOGIES INC. 25.51 +0.21 +0.83%

European markets also surrendered earlier gains but ended the day higher. Britain’s FTSE rose 2.46 percent, France's CAC 1.8 percent. Germany’s DAX 0.77 percent. All had posted increases of more than 5 percent after opening.

Markets in Asia were under pressure at the close, with Japan’s Nikkei plunging 6.1 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.