(Adds gold, oil settlement prices)
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* Potential COVID-19 drug adds to sentiment
* U.S. crude oil prices slip to 18-year lows
* Dollar, gold fall on risk-on sentiment
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, 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 investors' growing
risk-on sentiment.
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 Gilead's shares
8.3%. Boeing's BA.N 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 in the first quarter, 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
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 1.81%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX
rose 2.63% and is up nearly 8% over the last two weeks.
On Wall Street, stocks pared early gains above 2% but
remained firmly in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 385.43 points,
or 1.64%, to 23,923.11. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 40.16 points,
or 1.43%, to 2,839.71 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
21.58 points, or 0.25%, to 8,553.94.
The death toll from the coronavirus hit 150,000 on Friday,
according to a Reuters tally. Nearly 1,300 people who died in
Wuhan, equal to half the previously reported 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 0.142%, with the euro EUR= up
0.33% to $1.0871. The yen JPY= strengthened 0.36% versus the
greenback at 107.59 per dollar.
But the pandemic still spurred gloomy news.
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 toward 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 fell 13/32 in price to yield 0.6496%.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled down 1.9% at $1,698.80 an
ounce.
U.S. crude futures hit 18-year lows, trading below $18 a
barrel for part of the session as WTI extended losses in
comparison to global benchmark Brent, in part due to the coming
expiration of the current May contract. But later-dated
contracts also fell as U.S. storage rapidly fills.
Oil prices have remained weak even after the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers last
weekend announced a deal to cut output.
Brent futures LCOc1 rose 26 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at
$28.08 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude contract for
June CLc2 , which became the day's more active contract, ended
the session down 50 cents, or 2%, at $25.03.
The less active prompt WTI for May delivery CLc1 tumbled
by $1.60, or 8.1%, to $18.27, ahead of its April 21 expiration.
The contract slumped to a low of $17.31 a barrel during the
session, the lowest since November 2001.
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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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