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* Gilead rises on testing Ebola drug for coronavirus
* Nike rises as JP Morgan adds stock to its focus list
* Indexes up: Dow 1.13%, S&P 1.10%, Nasdaq 1.44%
(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh
Feb 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street main indexes rose 1% on Monday
following their worst week in at least four months as Amazon and
Nike gained and U.S. factory activity showed a surprise rebound.
ISM data showed the manufacturing sector expanded in January
after five straight months of contraction, offering hope that a
prolonged slump in business investment has probably bottomed
out. Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O gained 2.6% ahead of its quarterly
results, which will wrap up earnings for the so-called FAANG
group of stocks.
A 4.1% rise in Nike Inc's NKE.N shares after JP Morgan
added the footwear maker to their focus list provided the
biggest boost to the Dow Industrials .DJI .
The consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD gained 1.6%, the
most among the 11 major S&P indexes.
Also helping the mood was steps by China's central bank to
improve liquidity and relieve pressure on its economy from the
impact of the coronavirus epidemic. Fears surrounding the economic impact of the outbreak, which
has been declared as a global emergency, had shaved off more
than 600 points from the Dow Jones Industrials .DJI and pushed
the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX into the red for the year on
Friday.
"People are just looking at this as an opportunity to step
in and do a little bit of buying," said Robert Pavlik, chief
investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone
Wealth LLC in New York.
"The coronavirus concerns are still at the forefront of
investors' minds."
At 10:16 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 319.06 points, or 1.13%, at 28,575.09, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 35.54 points, or 1.10%, at 3,261.06. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 131.46 points, or 1.44%, at 9,282.40.
Gilead Sciences Inc's shares GILD.O jumped 4.5% after the
drugmaker said it has provided its experimental Ebola therapy
for use in a small number of patients affected by the
coronavirus in China. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.20-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.66-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 17 new 52-week highs and five new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 36 new lows.