Wall Street rose on Friday as market optimism increased on news that Gilead Sciences's (NASDAQ: GILD) antiviral drug showing promising COVID-19 treatment results and the White House issuing an economic reopen plan. Major stock benchmarks also completed two weeks of consecutive gains on Friday, a much needed milestone for the market. The Nasdaq soared 6% for the week, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones not being too far behind, rising 3% and 2.2% respectively.
China's first quarter GDP contracted by 6.8% compared to a year ago due to the coronavirus outbreak harming the world's second largest economy. This was China's largest GDP drop in nearly three decades, as factory output and domestic spending dramatically stopped during the quarter.
Here's how the market closed out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +2.68% or +75.01 points to 2,874.56
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +2.99% or +704.81 points to 24,242.49
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.38% or +117.78 points to 8,650.14
In Major Stock News, Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced that the manufacturer will begin reopening its plants in various parts of the United States next week with increased safety measures. Major retailers like L Brands (NYSE: LB), Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) and Gap (NYSE: GPS) rallied on Friday due to market optimism around the United States reopen. Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG), the United State's largest mall owner also gained. Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) shares soared on Friday after the company announced that it will be receiving up to $483 million in federal funding for its COVID-19 vaccine development.
In Stock Sector News, every sector rallied on Friday's market optimism, with Energy gaining a much need performance boost of +10.43%. The rest of the sector gains were as follows: Financials +5.57%, Industrials +4.70%, Materials +4.08%, Utilities +3.31%, Real Estate +3.22%, Health Care +2.07%, Consumer Discretionary +2.05%, Consumer Staples +1.50%, Communication Services +1.42% and Information Technology +1.38%.
In Commodity and Currency News, oil prices of dropped 20% since OPEC's historic production cut. The decline is mostly due to market participants being unconvinced that the cut is enough to save the commodity from falling demand. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) fell -8.25% and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) dipped -0.74%, bringing prices between $18-$29 per barrel. Gold (NYSE: GLD) also dropped on Friday, with the metal's price falling -1.97% and below the $1,700 threshold as investors pull their money back into stocks. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) also lost some strength for the same reason as gold on Friday, with the DXY Index dropping -0.22%.
As the market moves into Monday, investors will focus on earnings from companies like Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY), Equifax (NYSE: EFX), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Infosys (NYSE: INFY), Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG), Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD), Truist Financial (NYSE: TFC), Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION). Market participants will also focus on coronavirus headlines about treatments and economic reopening measures.