(Adds U.S. market, byline, dateline)
* World stocks race toward second-best week on record
* U.S. plans to reopen economy, virus treatment hopes lift
mood
Markets take China economic contraction in stride
* U.S. oil futures slump 8% to hit 18-year low
By Herbert Lash and Marc Jones
NEW YORK/LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Global stocks rallied
on Friday on President Donald Trump's plans to revive the
coronavirus-hit U.S. economy and hopes of a potential drug to
treat COVID-19, while the dollar fell amid a growing risk-on
sentiment among investors.
The bulls charged ahead on reports that patients with severe
COVID-19 symptoms had responded positively to Gilead Sciences'
GILD.O experimental drug, remdesivir, lifting its shares 8.3%.
Boeing's announcement it would resume production of
commercial jets next week also buoyed sentiment and gave traders
a reason to shrug off a 6.8% decline in Chinese gross domestic
product, the first contraction since 1992 when modern
record-keeping began. The dollar slid against the euro and Japanese yen and gold
fell as much as 2% as investors globally drew comfort from
Trump's plans to gradually re-open the U.S. economy in a
staggered, three-stage approach. China along with Germany, Italy, Spain and other parts of
Europe also have plans to reopen their economies even as the
death toll from the pandemic rises.
"It's too early to signal the all-clear, but I do think
we're making progress," said Michael Arone, chief investment
strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.
Economies will not fully recover until people are
comfortable they can move about in public without being exposed
to the coronavirus and getting sick, he said. In addition,
laid-off workers must be rehired but there is a silver lining in
that at least half indicate their situation is temporary, he
said.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 1.90%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX
rose 2.38% and is up nearly 8% over the last two weeks.
On Wall Street, stocks pared earlier gains but remained
firmly in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 406.88 points,
or 1.73%, to 23,944.56. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 44.72 points,
or 1.60%, to 2,844.27 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
59.36 points, or 0.7%, to 8,591.72.
Nearly 150,000 people have died from the disease, according
to a Reuters tally. Nearly 1,300 people who died in Wuhan, or
half the Chinese total, were not counted in death tolls because
of lapses, state media said. Asia had a strong session. Tokyo's Nikkei .225 and Seoul's
KOPSI .KS11 both closed up over 3% and industrial metal
copper, somewhat a bellwether of global economic health, was up
nearly 4% for the week. .T .SS MET/L
The dollar index =USD fell 0.221%, with the euro EUR= up
0.43% to $1.0882. The yen JPY= strengthened 0.40% versus the
greenback at 107.54 per dollar.
But gloomy news still abounded.
Credit rating firm S&P Global downgraded another clutch of
countries hit by the coronavirus and warned that even triple-A
and other top-rated nations could be cut depending on how they
manage the longer-term consequences of the pandemic.
In Europe, Italy's government bonds, which have been under
pressure as the country's virus difficulties push its
debt-to-GDP ratio towards 150%, rallied again.
U.S. long-dated Treasury yields fell to two-week lows,
despite higher-risk appetite overall.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 2/32 in price
to yield 0.604%.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 1.6% to $1,689.87 an ounce.
Oil prices were mixed as investors sold U.S. crude futures
on rapidly filling storage, offsetting support from Trump's
plans to revive the U.S. economy.
U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 8.51% to $18.18 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $28.42, up 2.16% on the day.
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China GDP contributions Image https://reut.rs/2VBXiDz
World stocks shaking off the virus? https://reut.rs/34Hz6Ed
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