US STOCKS-Wall Street gains on Boeing surge and coronavirus drug hopes

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* Boeing to resume airplane production in Washington state
* Gilead surges on report of positive data from COVID-19
trial
* Indexes rise: Dow 3%, S&P 500 2.7%, Nasdaq 1.4%

(Updates close with details)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
April 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on the day Friday and
also posted gains for the week, boosted by a surge in Boeing
shares, President Donald Trump's plan to reopen the
coronavirus-battered economy and hopes of a potential drug by
Gilead to treat COVID-19.
The Nasdaq added 6.1% for the week and registered its
biggest two-week percentage gain since 2001.
Boeing BA.N shares soared nearly 15% on plans to restart
commercial jet production in Washington state after halting
operations last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O surged almost 10% following a
report that patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, the
respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, had responded
positively to its experimental drug remdesivir. The report cited
partial data from a University of Chicago hospital, one 152
locations participating in the trial. With no treatments or vaccines currently approved for the
coronavirus, the news helped lift global equity markets. But
Gilead said the totality of the data from the trial needed to be
analyzed, and it expected to report results from a study testing
the drug in severe COVID-19 patients at the end of April.
"If you can ultimately get a powerful treatment in lieu of a
vaccine in the next couple of months, that would be good for
cyclical stocks, anything economically sensitive," said R.J.
Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.
"If we can get some sort of back-to-normal in some way that
the economy could start to function, the banks are going to
rip," he added.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 30% from its March trough following
a raft of global stimulus and hopes that the spread of the virus
was nearing a peak in the United States.
However, the S&P remains about 15% off its all-time high,
and strategists have warned of a deep economic slump from the
halt in business activity and layoffs.
Some U.S. states are expected to begin announcing timetables
for lifting restrictions. On Thursday, Trump unveiled guidelines
for a staggered, three-stage process by states to lift
restrictions on business and social life to curb the
pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 704.81 points,
or 2.99%, to 24,242.49, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 75.01 points,
or 2.68%, to 2,874.56 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
117.78 points, or 1.38%, to 8,650.14.
For the week, the Dow added 2.2% and the S&P 500 rose 3%.
The reopening guidelines "provide some hope and optimism for
folks and the market and the whole economy. It's a start," said
Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in
Dallas.
Bradshaw, who owns Boeing shares, said the planemaker's news
was positive as well. "I certainly haven't given up on it," he
said.
Bank stocks recovered after four straight days of losses
triggered by lenders' reporting several billion dollars in
reserves to cover potential loan defaults. The S&P 500 financial
index .SPSY ended up 5.6%, while the S&P energy index .SPNY
jumped 10.4%.
Apple Inc AAPL.O fell 1.4% as Goldman Sachs downgraded the
stock on expectations of a 36% drop in iPhone shipments during
the company's fiscal third quarter due to coronavirus-related
lockdowns. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.75 billion shares, compared
to the 13.72 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
5.18-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.88-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 13 new lows.