Markets Rally Amid COVID Treatment Hopes

S&P 500 adds to all-time high
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 24, 2020 3:50 PM CDT
Markets Rally Amid COVID Treatment Hopes
A man wearing a protective face mask passes the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Stocks plowed higher on Wall Street Monday, as hopes for a COVID-19 treatment and vaccine had investors looking ahead to the possibility of a healthier economy. The S&P 500 rallied 34.12, or 1%, to 3,431.28 and added to the all-time high it set last week, when it erased the last of its losses from the coronavirus pandemic. It followed up on solid gains for stock markets across much of Europe and Asia, the AP reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 378.13, or 1.4%, to 28,308.46, and the Nasdaq composite added 67.92, or 0.6%, to 11,379.72. Hope was rising as pharmaceutical companies continue to work toward a possible vaccine for COVID-19 and after the US government on Sunday approved an emergency authorization to allow the use of convalescent plasma to treat patients

The plasma comes from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus, and it may help people battling the disease, though global health officials say the therapy is still experimental. Such hopes helped invigorate shares of industries that have been badly beaten down by what's become the new normal of pandemic life. Airlines climbed, for example, amid the possibility that people may feel safe enough to travel again in the future. Delta Air Lines rose 9.3%, and American Airlines Group added 10.5%. One winner of the new normal, Zoom Video Communications, stumbled. Its shares fell 2.6% after it reported partial outages in its Zoom Meetings service, which has become the default way for classrooms and businesses around the world to communicate.

(More stock market stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X