How stocks surged 75% just one year after the depths of the Covid selloff: CNBC After Hours

CNBC.com's Pippa Stevens brings you the day's top business news headlines. On today's one year anniversary of the lowest levels of the Covid-driven stock selloff, Bob Pisani explains the unprecedented pace of the market's recovery. Plus, Leslie Josephs breaks down the strengthening demand in airline travel and the upcoming elusiveness of dirt-cheap fares.

What investors have learned one year since the stock market bottomed

The S&P 500 bottomed on March 23, 2020. From the mid-February 2020 high to that bottom, the S&P dropped 34%, its biggest drop since the 50% decline in the Great Recession.

The big difference between now and then is the breathtaking speed of the recovery. In the earlier crisis, the S&P did not return to its old high until February 2013, nearly six years later. In the case of the Covid drop, the S&P returned to its February 2020 high six months later and is now up 75% from the bottom.

The Great Recession, of course, was a different kind of disaster than Covid, but the speed of this recovery was nonetheless breathtaking.

Say goodbye to $30 plane tickets. The era of dirt-cheap flights is ending

Thinking about finally taking that vacation? You're not alone.

Millions of Americans, many cooped up for a year, are hitting the road and taking to the skies, as more people get vaccinated against Covid-19. President Joe Biden earlier this month said all American adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May.

As more people grow confident that the threat of Covid-19 is fading, it's becoming harder to find the rock-bottom fares, some in the double-digits, that airlines offered when they were more desperate to fill planes. Hotel rates are also ticking up.

Microsoft is reportedly in talks to acquire messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion

Microsoft is in talks to buy messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Discord has reached out to potential buyers and Microsoft is one of them, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter, while one of them said it was more likely to go public than sell itself.

Earlier in the day, VentureBeat reported that Discord was exploring a sale and it was in final talks with a party.

Both Microsoft and Discord did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.

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