US STOCKS-Wall St climbs on Boeing, Trump's reopening plan

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Boeing to resume airplane production in Washington
* Gilead surges on report of positive data from COVID-19
trial
* Amazon, Netflix slip from record highs
* Indexes rise: Dow 1.90%, S&P 1.77%, Nasdaq 0.68%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh and Akanksha Rana
April 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street bounced on Friday, boosted
by a surge in Boeing shares, with President Donald Trump's plan
to reopen the economy and hopes of a potential drug by Gilead to
treat COVID-19 helping sentiment.
Shares of the U.S. planemaker BA.N soared 12.3% on plans
to restart commercial jet production in Washington state after
halting operations last month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The S&P 500 .SPX has now regained about 30% from a March
trough and is set for its third weekly gain in four following a
raft of global stimulus and on hopes that statewide lockdowns
would be eased as the outbreak showed signs of ebbing.
However, the index is still about 19% away from reclaiming
its all-time high and analysts have warned of a deep economic
slump as a halt in business activity puts millions of Americans
out of work.
"Expectations are very low and every time you get a bit of
good news - even if there is skepticism attached to the Gilead
drug and to the timeline of opening up different regions - it's
still better than anyone would have expected," said Thomas
Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Some U.S. states on Friday were expected to announce
timetables for lifting restrictions, a day after President
Donald Trump outlined guidelines for a phased reopening of the
devastated U.S. economy. Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O surged 8.1% following a report
that patients with severe symptoms of the disease had responded
positively to its experimental drug, remdesivir. With no treatments or vaccines currently approved for the
coronavirus, the news lifted 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 in
severe COVID-19 patients at the end of April. "The anecdotal evidence out of Gilead's Chicago trials for
remdesivir are just that: anecdotal, even though they are part
of a Phase 3 trial," said Peter Cecchini, managing director and
chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
Bank stocks .SPXBK recovered after four straight days of
losses, which were triggered by lenders reporting several
billion dollars in reserves to cover potential loan defaults.
Financial stocks .SPSY were the top boost to the S&P 500.
The risk-on sentiment pushed Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX
below 40 and sent safe-haven gold down almost 2%. GOL/
At 12:48 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 447.62 points, or 1.90%, at 23,985.30 and the S&P 500
.SPX was up 49.54 points, or 1.77%, at 2,849.09. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 58.27 points, or 0.68%, at 8,590.63.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Netflix Inc NFLX.O eased
slightly from record highs after surging this week on strong
demand for online streaming services and home delivery of goods.
Apple Inc AAPL.O fell 1.9% as Goldman Sachs downgraded the
stock on expectations of a 36% drop in iPhone shipments during
the third quarter due to coronavirus-related lockdowns.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.83-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 4.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 26 new highs and seven new lows.