US markets surge on Boeing plans and hopes of coronavirus drug

A trinity of good news has boosted stocks in the United States. Boeing plans to restart commercial jet production, there is a potential drug by Gilead Sciences to treat COVID-19, and President Donald Trump laid out plans to reopen the US economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.99 percent to close at 24,242.49. The widely used gauge of US retirement and education savings accounts, the S&P 500, rose 2.68 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.38 percent.

Boeing shares soared nearly 15 percent on the company’s plans to restart commercial jet production in Washington state after halting operations last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some US states were expected to announce timetables for lifting restrictions, a day after Trump outlined guidelines for a phased reopening of the devastated US economy.

The plans “provide some hope and optimism for folks and the market and the whole economy. It’s a start,” said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas.

Bradshaw, who owns Boeing shares, said the planemaker’s news helped to lift optimism as well.

Gilead Sciences Inc surged almost 10 percent following a report that patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, had responded positively to its experimental drug, remdesivir.

US stocks posted gains for the week. The S&P 500 rose 3 percent for the week. The Dow gained 2.2 percent. The Nasdaq advanced finished the week 6.1 percent higher. Had you invested money into US market during the late-March lows, you would have gained more than 25 percent.