Tesla, Intel and Facebook were among the Bay Area stocks on the rise Friday as investors reacted positively to the federal government’s initial guidelines for re-opening the economy and promising data about a possible coronavirus treatment from Gilead Sciences.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 500 points, to reach 24,150.20, and is now almost 1,000 points higher than where it closed on March 13, the day President Trump declared a national emergency because of the coronavirus crisis. Should the blue-chip Dow’s gains hold, it will close at its highest point since March 10.
The S&P 500 rose by 1.5%, to 2,842.37, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up by almost 1%, at 8,604.67.
Gains were spurred on by reports that Foster City-based Gilead Sciences has seen positive results in early trials of its antirviral drug remdesivir for treating coronavirus. Investors were also enthusiastic about President Trump giving his support for a phased approach to re-opening the nation’s economy. Pressure has been growing to relax shelter-in-place orders in parts of the country following the latest data that includes a total of 22 million new claims for first-time unemployment assistavence since the economy went into lockdown to help contain the coronavirus spread.
Gilead’s shares rose 8%, to $82.65.
Tesla shares climbed by 2.4%, to $762.87, a day after Chief Executive Elon Musk said ventilators he pledged to donate have begun being delivered to hospitals in California, and elsewhere.
Gains also came from Google parent company Alphabet, which edged up by 1%, to $1,276.13 a share; Facebook, up by 1.7%, at $179.32 a share; Intel, which rose 0.6%, to $61.15 a share, Cisco Systems, up by 1.7%, at $42.19 a share, and AMD, up by 0.5%, at $57.26 a share.
On Thursday, Cisco Chief Executive Chuck Robbins, and AMD CEO Lisa Su were named among the co-chairs to head up the new Silicon Valley Economic Recovery and Resilience Council, a group of regional business leaders that will help direct the area’s economic recovery efforts.
