Friday, March 13, was a great day for shares of Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX), and NCR (NYSE: NCR), with the three gaining 10.2%, 14.1%, and 15% to close out the week. Friday was a huge day for most stocks, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 9.2%.
Friday was on track to be a good day for most of the trading period, with the major indices up around 4% about one hour before the close. However, a news conference by President Trump and a number of key officials announcing a number of big steps to help address the health and economic impacts of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak stoked a massive surge on Wall Street.
By the close of trading, the indices, along with many stocks including the three named above, closed out one of the worst weeks in U.S. market history on a positive note. The following chart shows just how quickly the market turned sharply higher late on Friday: