Wall St jumps on stimulus hopes, hints of Trump's return to White House

Wall Street's main indexes jumped on Monday, recovering from a sharp fall in the previous session as hints President Donald Trump could return to the White House and hopes of a new fiscal stimulus bill lifted sentiment.

Although Trump's medical condition remained unclear as he began a fourth day at the military hospital where he is being treated for COVID-19, his doctors have said he could be discharged as soon as Monday.

Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes were up, with energy, the worst performing sector this year, rising 1.3pc. Materials and financials were also among the biggest gainers in early trading.

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc jumped 6.0pc after Trump's physician said he had been treated with an intravenous dose of Regeneron's dual antibody treatment.

"One of his treatments was an experimental drug from Regeneron (and) that's showing that this could be a major component to treatments moving forward for people," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.

Wall Street's main indexes sold off sharply on Friday after Trump's announcement that he had contracted the disease added to political uncertainty just a month away from voting in the presidential election.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on Monday there was still potential to reach agreement with US lawmakers on more coronavirus relief and that Trump was committed to getting the deal done.

"This is not yet priced into markets (and) if new convincing fiscal measures are announced this week, expect to see a further rally in risk assets," said Hussein Sayed, market strategist at FXTM.

At 10:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.92pc, the S&P 500 was up 1.01pc, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.38pc.

Doubts about the scale of further fiscal aid and a slowing economic recovery have weighed on the S&P 500 recently, with the benchmark index in September logging its worst month since the coronavirus-driven crash earlier this year.

But latest data showed the services industry's activity picked up in September, pulling above a level that prevailed before the pandemic struck the United States.

Heavyweight tech-related stocks including Apple Inc , Nvidia Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp were up between 0.5pc and 1.9pc after weighing heavily on the Nasdaq on Friday.

The S&P banking subindex rose 1.0pc as the US Treasury 30-year yield hit its highest since late August.

Real estate - considered a defensive play - was the only S&P sector in the red.

MyoKardia Inc surged 58.1pc after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said it would buy the company for about $13 billion. Shares of Bristol-Myers slipped 0.6pc.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 3-to-1 on the NYSE and on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and two new lows.