A woman walks in the rain outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York, April 13, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Dow Jones Industrial Average advances 39 points
The Dow gained 39.44 points, or 0.17%, to close at 23,515.26. The S&P 500 lost 0.05% to 2,797.80. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.01% to 8,494.75. Wall Street was taken for a ride that highlighted the importance of finding a treatment for the coronavirus.
Questions over remdesivir
The Financial Times said — citing documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization — that Gilead Sciences’ drug remdesivir did not improve patients’ condition or reduce the coronavirus pathogen in their bloodstream. Those findings, according to the report, came from a clinical trial in China. Gilead took exception with the report, saying: “it was underpowered to enable statistically meaningful conclusions.” The back-and-forth knocked the major averages from their session highs and briefly pushed the Nasdaq and S&P 500 into negative territory.
Gilead falls, energy stocks rally
Gilead shares dropped 4.34% after the FT’s report was published. Energy stocks rose broadly following another surge in oil prices. Chevron rose 2.79% while Exxon Mobil advanced 3.13%. The S&P 500 energy sector climbed 3.01%.
What happens next?
Consumer sentiment and durable goods data are set for release Friday. Verizon and Sanofi are scheduled to report earnings.
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Wall Street was taken for a ride that highlighted the importance of finding a treatment for the coronavirus.