NEW YORK, April 18 — Global stocks rallied yesterday on President Donald Trump’s plans to revive the coronavirus-hit US economy and a report about a clinical trial for a potential drug to treat Covid-19, while the dollar fell amid investors’ growing risk-on sentiment.

The bulls charged ahead on a report that patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms had responded positively to Gilead Sciences’ experimental drug remdesivir, lifting Gilead’s shares by 9.7 per cent. Analysts and the company have urged caution on drawing any conclusions, however.

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 per cent 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 per cent as investors globally drew comfort from Trump’s plans to gradually re-open the US 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. Also, laid-off workers must be rehired but the good news is at least half indicate their situation is temporary, he said.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 2.59 per cent, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 2.63 per cent, climbing more than 8 per cent the last two weeks.

On Wall Street, stocks pared early gains above 2 per cent but remained firmly in positive territory. Boeing rose 14.7 per cent while the Nasdaq, up 6.1 per cent for the week, logged its best two-week gain since April 2001.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 704.81 points, or 2.99 per cent, to 24,242.49. The S&P 500 gained 75.01 points, or 2.68 per cent, to 2,874.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 117.78 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 8,650.14.

The death toll from the coronavirus hit 150,000 yesterday, according to a Reuters tally.

Asia had a strong session. Tokyo’s Nikkei and Seoul’s KOPSI both closed up over 3 per cent. Copper, a global economic bellwether, rose was up nearly 4 per cent for the week to post its biggest weekly gain since February 2019.

The dollar index fell 0.126 per cent, with the euro up 0.29 per cent to US$1.0866 (RM4.75). The yen strengthened 0.33 per cent versus the greenback at 107.61 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 per cent, rallied again.

US long-dated Treasury yields fell to two-week lows, despite higher-risk appetite overall. Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 13/32 in price to yield 0.6496 per cent.

US gold futures settled down 1.9 per cent at US$1,698.80 an ounce.

US crude futures hit 18-year lows, trading below US$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 US storage rapidly fills.

Oil prices have remained weak even after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers last weekend announced a deal to cut output.

Brent futures rose 26 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to settle at US$28.08 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude contract for June, which became the day’s more active contract, ended the session down 50 cents, or 2 per cent, at US$25.03.

The less active prompt WTI for May delivery tumbled by US$1.60, or 8.1 per cent, to US$18.27, ahead of its April 21 expiration. The contract slumped to a low of US$17.31 a barrel during the session, the lowest since November 2001. — Reuters