Optimism About Coronavirus Treatment Leads To Initial Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply higher at the start of trading on Friday, stocks have remained mostly positive over the course of the morning. The major averages are adding to yesterday's gains to reach their best intraday levels in over a month.

Currently, the major averages are off their best levels of the day but holding on to strong gains. The Dow is up 350.20 points or 1.5 percent at 23,887.88, the Nasdaq is up 93.76 points or 1.1 percent at 8,626.12 and the S&P 500 is up 46.54 points or 1.7 percent at 2,846.09.

The initial strength on Wall Street came following a report of promising early data related to a potential coronavirus treatment from Gilead Sciences (GILD). Shares of Gilead have moved sharply higher on the news.

Healthcare publication STAT News reported that the experimental Covid-19 treatment remdesivir is showing promise in a Chicago clinical trial.

Investors also seem to be reacting positively to President Donald Trump's plans for a gradual re-opening of the U.S. economy.

"We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time," Trump said at the coronavirus task force press briefing Thursday as the White House outlined a three-phase approach to gradually bring back parts of public life.

Banking stocks have shown a substantial move back to the upside after falling sharply in recent sessions, with the KBW Bank Index spiking by 6.8 percent.

Regions Financial (RF) is posting a standout gain even though the bank holding company reported weaker than expected first quarter results.

Significant strength is also visible among energy stocks, which are rebounding from recent weakness despite a steep drop by the price of crude oil. Crude for May delivery is currently tumbling $1.76 to $18.11 a barrel.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 5.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index is up by 4.8 percent.

Housing, steel, and chemical stocks are also seeing considerable strength in morning trading, while gold stocks are bucking the uptrend amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index spiked by 3.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

The major European markets have also shown substantial moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has surged up by 3.4 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 3.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 2.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have turned higher over the course of the morning after seeing initial weakness. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.7 basis points at 0.592 percent.