By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow rallied Thursday and remained on track for its first two-week winning streak since February, led by a surge in energy as investor sentiment was boosted by optimism over a potential coronavirus treatment and hopes the economy could reopen fairly soon.
The Dow rose 1.97%, or 462 points, the S&P 500 gained 1.79% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.58%.
President Donald Trump unveiled three-stage guidelines for states to lift lockdown measures and open for business, easing some investor fears the U.S. is set for a prolonged recession.
As many as 29 states potentially “will be able to open relatively soon,” Trump said, even as state governors stressed they would plot their own path as to when and how quickly to reopen.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has warned that reopening too quickly may risk a fresh wave of infections, suggested a staggered reopening in the state is the way to go.
“It’s going to be incremental, and we have to be smart as we do this,” Cuomo said as the rate of Covid-19-related hospitalizations across the state continued to decline.
"The situation we’re in right now is unstable. People can’t stay in their homes for this length of time. They can’t stay out of work. You can’t keep the economy closed forever. You just can’t. Society can’t handle it," he added.
In the race to produce a coronavirus treatment, the University of Chicago Medicine researchers reportedly said they saw "rapid recoveries" in coronavirus patients taking Gilead Sciences' (NASDAQ:GILD) experimental drug remdesivir.
The upswing in investor sentiment was most prevalent across energy stocks, which led the broader market rally despite a fall in oil amid ongoing concerns about a slump in demand.
Financials, which have been battered this week among weak earnings from major Wall Street banks, rose 4.7% thanks to a strong showing from regional banks, with Citizens Financial (NYSE:CFG) up 16% and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) up 12%.
Boeing (NYSE:BA), meanwhile, jumped 13% pushing the broader industrials higher after the aircraft maker said it would resume commercial airplane production at its Puget Sound-region facilities in Washington state next week.