U.S. Stocks Rally On Upbeat Coronavirus Treatment News

(RTTNews) - Following the pullback seen in the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Friday.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow surged up 369.21 points or 1.4 percent to 26,075.30, the Nasdaq climbed 69.69 points or 0.7 percent to 10,617.44 and the S&P 500 jumped 32.99 points or 1.1 percent to 3,185.04.

The strength on Wall Street comes after Gilead Sciences (GILD) said remdesivir showed a sharp mortality risk drop when used to treat patients suffering of coronavirus.

BioNTech's CEO also told The Wall Street Journal the German biotechnology company's coronavirus vaccine candidate could be ready for approval by December.

The upbeat treatment and vaccine news overshadowed the news that the U.S. reported a record daily increase in new coronavirus cases of more than 63,000.

Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 5.8 percent The index bounced off its lowest closing level in over a month,

Significant strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 5.2 percent jump by the KBW Bank Index.

Steel, brokerage and energy stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved lower over the course of the session after seeing initial strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.8 basis points at 0.623 percent.