US STOCKS-Wall St jumps with financials; Gilead data offsets virus fears

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* Gilead analysis shows remdesivir reduced coronavirus death
risk
* Carnival rises on plan to resume trips in phases
* S&P 500 financial index rises 3.5%
* Indexes: Dow up 1.4%, S&P 500 up 1.1%, Nasdaq up 0.7%

(Updates close with VIX)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
July 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as a positive
analysis on Gilead Sciences Inc 's antiviral drug to treat
COVID-19 helped to soothe investor worries over a record rise in
coronavirus cases in the United States, and as financial shares
surged.
The Nasdaq posted its sixth record closing high in seven
days, but the index underperformed both the Dow and S&P 500, in
a reversal of the recent trend.
The S&P 500 financials index .SPSY rose 3.5%, leading
sector gains and giving the S&P 500 its biggest boost. Bank of
America Corp BAC.N shares increased 5.5%, Citigroup Inc C.N
jumped 6.5% and JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N climbed 5.5% ahead
of their financial results next week, which will mark the onset
of the second-quarter earnings season.
Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank
Wealth Management in Seattle, said there was a rotation "from
winners into laggards" in Friday's trading, with the earnings
period around the corner.
The United States registered the largest single-day increase
in new COVID-19 infections globally for the second day in a row
on Thursday, forcing Americans to take new precautions. Several
states have already backpedaled on reopening plans. Gilead's GILD.O remdesivir significantly improved clinical
recovery and reduced the risk of death in COVID-19 patients,
additional data from a late-stage study showed. The drugmaker's
shares climbed 2.2% as it said the finding required confirmation
in clinical trials. "That kind of dampened some of the concern that's been
building over the past few days around the increased virus cases
in the southern states," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment
strategist for Allianz Investment Management in Minneapolis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 369.21 points,
or 1.44%, to 26,075.3, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 32.99 points,
or 1.05%, to 3,185.04 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
69.69 points, or 0.66%, to 10,617.44.
For the week, the Dow rose 1%, the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and
the Nasdaq jumped 4%. The Cboe Volatility index .VIX ended
down on the day and fell 0.39 points for the week.
Overall profits for S&P 500 companies are expected to have
fallen more than 40% in the second quarter, which would be the
biggest quarterly profit decline since the financial crisis,
according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The first coronavirus cases in the United States were
identified in January and within weeks much of the economy was
shut down to slow the spread, throwing millions of Americans
into unemployment. Companies across a range of industries have
been dealing with the aftermath ever since. The S&P 500 is up more than 40% from its March 23 bottom,
thanks in part to economic data that has pointed to a revival in
business activity in June.
Carnival Corp CCL.N jumped 10.8% after the cruise line
operator said it was planning to resume operations in a phased
manner and would operate with a smaller fleet on its return.
Netflix Inc NFLX.O rose 8.1% after Goldman Sachs hiked its
price target on the video streaming service's shares.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.87-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 85 new highs and 17 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.57 billion shares, compared
with the 11.93 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.