US: Stocks close higher despite Trump virus uncertainty

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks marched higher on Monday to end with solid gains as investors appeared unphased by US President Donald Trump's battle with Covid-19.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7 per cent to finish at 28,148.64.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.8 per cent to 3,408.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq surged 2.3 per cent to 11,332.49.

Stocks slumped on Friday after Mr Trump announced his diagnosis, but the president announced during Monday trading he would be leaving the Walter Reed military medical center he had checked into last week.

Former vice-president Joe Biden's solidifying lead over Mr Trump in the November vote as well as positive economic developments also reassured investors, analysts said.

"Renewed hopes of a bipartisan fiscal stimulus agreement are also lifting the mood, while indications that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has widened his lead in the polls is reducing concern over the possibility of a contested November election," Wells Fargo Advisors said in a note.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked again on Monday as they searched for a long-elusive agreement on additional stimulus for the pummeled US economy, a top Pelosi aide said.

The two sides have been negotiating for weeks over a follow-up package to the US$2.2 trillion CARES Act passed as the coronavirus pandemic erupted earlier this year.

In economic data, the Institute for Supply Management said the dominant US services sector saw growth accelerate in September and employment break a six-month contraction, with its services index rising 0.9 points to 57.8 per cent.

Among individual stocks, ExxonMobil rebounded from an early decline, gaining 2.3 per cent after announcing plans to lay off 11 per cent of its European workforce.

MyoKardia, which specialises in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments, shot up 58 per cent after pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb announced it would buy the firm. Bristol Myers gained 0.8 per cent.

AFP