Stocks close higher amid escalating response to protests

Stocks closed with gains as protests against police brutality stretched into Tuesday as President Trump urged governors to take more aggressive action to disperse demonstrators.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a gain of 267 points Tuesday, rising more than 1 percent by the end of trading. The S&P 500 index rose more than 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6 percent.

Stocks have risen in lockstep with states loosening restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19 despite warnings from economists of a long road to recovery from the downturn spurred by the pandemic. While experts expect the economy to begin rebounding as soon as July, the unemployment rate is expected to remain more than twice its pre-pandemic level of 3.5 percent well into 2021.

The economic crisis driven by the pandemic has also taken a disproportionate toll on African Americans and other minority groups as the U.S. sees nationwide protests against the deaths of blacks at the hands of police.

Trump has called on governors to drastically step up their efforts to quell protests as police departments in cities across the country use teargas and rubber bullets to detain demonstrators who have violated curfews imposed by mayors. The president has also invoked his power to deploy the U.S. military to police Washington, D.C., and threatened to do so in other states, enraging Democrats and provoking some pushback from Republicans.