US STOCKS-Wall St gains on Boeing, Trump's restart plan

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* Gilead surges on report of positive data from COVID-19
trial
* Boeing to resume airplane production in Washington
* Schlumberger records $8.5 bln charge in first quarter
* Indexes rise: Dow 1.31%, S&P 1.17%, Nasdaq 0.24%

(Adds quote, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Akanksha Rana
April 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street bounced on Friday as Boeing
said it would resume production of commercial jets, with
investors also cheering President Donald Trump's plan to reopen
the economy and on hopes of a potential drug by Gilead Sciences
to treat COVID-19.
The U.S. planemaker's shares BA.N soared 11.9% on plans to
restart commercial aircraft 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.
Trump outlined a plan on Thursday to reopen U.S. states in a
staggered, three-stage process, but the plan was a set of
recommendations rather than orders, and left the decision
largely up to state governors. Gilead GILD.O surged 8.2% 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 bounced back after four straight days
of losses on 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 11:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 307.68 points, or 1.31%, at 23,845.36, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 32.78 points, or 1.17%, at 2,832.33. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 20.09 points, or 0.24%, at 8,552.46.
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 2.4% as Goldman Sachs downgraded the
stock, expecting iPhone shipments to drop 36% during the third
quarter due to coronavirus-related lockdowns. The world's top oilfield services provider Schlumberger NV
SLB.N rose 6% even as it swung to a loss in the first quarter
on $8.5 billion in asset writedowns and cut its dividend.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 5-to-1 on
the NYSE and 3-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 25 new highs and six new lows.