US STOCKS-Wall St jumps as May retail sales boost hopes of swift recovery

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* Steriod drug shown to reduce COVID-19 death rates
* Retail sales increases 17.7% in May
* Eli Lilly pops after update on breast cancer treatment
* Indexes up: Dow 1.72%, S&P 1.66%, Nasdaq 1.46%

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By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday after a
record surge in May retail sales revived hopes of a swift
post-pandemic economic rebound, with sentiment also lifted by
data showing reduced COVID-19 death rates in a trial of a
generic steroid drug.
A Commerce Department report showed overall retail receipts
rose 17.7% last month as Americans resumed spending after weeks
of lockdown, although the rebound retraces only a fraction of
the historic drops in March and April. Retailers Kohl's Corp KSS.N and Nordstrom Inc JWN.N
surged 9.4% and 11.8%, respectively, and were among the top
advancers on the S&P 500 .SPX index.
"We had retail sales which is giving signals to the
investing community that things are better than first assessed,"
said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital Llc at
Bernardsville, New Jersey.
Results from a UK-led trial showed giving low doses of the
generic steroid drug dexamethasone to patients admitted to
hospital with COVID-19 reduced death rates by around a third
among those with the most severe cases of infection.
U.S. stocks ended a volatile session higher on Monday as the
Federal Reserve said it would start buying corporate bonds to
infuse liquidity. A report overnight said the Trump
administration was preparing a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure
proposal. "The Fed committing to buying corporate bonds is also giving
the market confidence that it is going to be there on several
levels," Bakhos said.
The S&P 500 is now only about 8% below its all-time high hit
four months earlier, although the pace of gains have slowed
since the Fed issued a grim economic outlook last week.
In his prepared remarks, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated
the United States faces an uncertain, uneven and prolonged
recovery from the coronavirus crisis. At 11:20 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 421.70 points, or 1.64%, at 26,184.86, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 49.90 points, or 1.63%, at 3,116.49. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 142.12 points, or 1.46%, at 9,868.14.
All 11 S&P sub-indexes were trading higher, with energy
.SPNY , technology .SPLRCT and materials .SPLRCM climbing
about 2% each.
Industrial giants Caterpillar Inc CAT.N jumped 5% and
Boeing Co BA.N 4%, leading gains on the blue-chip Dow index.
Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N jumped 14.1% after its breast
cancer therapy Verzenio met the main goal of reducing the risk
of it returning in the early stages in a late-stage study.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.43-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded six new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 84 new highs and four new lows.