US markets end higher on optimism about coronavirus treatment

18 Apr 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Friday as investors’ sentiment was buoyed by report of a possible treatment for the COVID-19 disease and Trump administration announced guidelines for reopening the economy. Support for markets was attributed to a report from health-care media site Stat report that indicated promising results for a drug used to treat COVID-19, the disease that has claimed more than 140,000 lives around the globe and forced the closure of much of the US and global economy in an effort to contain it. University of Chicago Medicine researchers saw rapid recoveries in 125 patients suffering from COVID-19 who were taking Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug remdesivir as part of a clinical trial.

The National Institutes of Health published a media advisory announcing the results of a study showing the drug effective in treating monkeys infected with COVID-19. Meanwhile, traders shrugged off a report from the Conference Board showing its index of leading US economic indicators registered the largest decline in its 60-year history in the month of March. The Conference Board said its leading economic index plunged by 6.7 percent in March after dipping by a revised 0.2 percent in February. Street had expected the index to plummet by 7.0 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 704.81 points or 2.99 percent to 24,242.49, Nasdaq gained 117.78 points 1.38 percent to 8,650.14 and S&P 500 was up by 75.01 points or 2.68 percent to 2,874.56.

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