Global stocks rally Friday on Gilead’s coronavirus treatment and Boeing’s production restart
Oil prices drop on Chinese economy contraction
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U.S. stock futures are signaling a strong start to Friday's session adding to the momentum seen on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average are up more than 700 points or 3 percent while the S&P 500 was higher by nearly 3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 2 percent.
Earlier in the evening, President Trump outlined the early-stage, phase approach as part of the “Opening Up America Again" coronavirus come back plan and there was also positive news on Gilead Sciences.
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Its drug Remdesivir, according to Statnews.com, showed effectiveness for treating COVID-19 patients. Shares of Gilead rose over 8 percent in premarket trading.
A recent clinical trial of Remdesivir, an antiviral medicine used as a potential treatment for Ebola, found rapid recoveries in coronavirus patients' fever and respiratory symptoms.
The trial, conducted by the University of Chicago Medicine, found nearly all patients who were given daily infusions of Remdesivir were discharged from the hospital in less than a week.
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And Dow member Boeing was rising nearly 8 percent in the extended session after announcing plans to resume commercial airplane production in Washington State.
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The late-day gains Thursday build on what was a positive day for stocks in the regular session despite more grim unemployment numbers.
In Asian Markets on Friday, Japan's Nikkei rose 3.2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.6 percent and China's Shanghai Composite added 0.7 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE added 3.4 percent, Germany's DAX gained 4.1 percent and France's CAC rose 4 percent.
Oil on the other hand, is moving in the other direction. U.S. crude is trading down 3.9 percent to $19.09.
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The Labor Department reported initial jobless claims totaling 5.25 million for the week through April 11, worse than the 5.1 million that economists surveyed by Refinitiv were anticipating. The data raises the number of first-time filings due to disruptions from COVID-19, including stores closing and factories idling, to about 22 million.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44782 | -128.65 | -0.29% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 6047.15 | +14.77 | +0.24% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19403.947849 | +185.78 | +0.97% |
Despite those figures, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 33 points, or 0.12 percent, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.57 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.66 percent led by big-cap tech names including Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 210.71 | +2.82 | +1.36% |
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 897.74 | +10.93 | +1.23% |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 430.98 | +7.52 | +1.78% |