US stock markets overcame a turn in sentiment during the week to post another strong day on Friday, the Dow Jones jumping 1.4%.
Merck’s COVID treatment
The biggest driver was drug company Merck (NYSE: MRK) announcing the results of trials of its COVID-19 treatment.
Rather than a vaccine, the pill can be taken by those with the virus and was shown to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and severe illness by 50%, according to the company.
Merck shares rallied 8.45%, lifting the opening trade including smaller companies up another 1.7%.
The S&P 500 also benefitted, adding 1.2% and the Nasdaq comparatively weaker at a 0.8% gain.
This wasn’t enough to overcome a volatile weak as traders sent all three benchmarks down between 1% and 3%.
On Friday, shares in Visa (NYSE: V) jumped on hopes of higher spending, up 3.5%, with Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) also following suit, up 4.0% and 3.8%, respectively.
Consumer spending jumps
More positive news came from the US PMI which moved above 61 points showing the manufacturing sector is booming, whilst consumer spending jumped 0.8% in September. Consumers are clearly starting to grow in confidence.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks closed out the week on Friday.
- Toast (NYSE: TOST) up 7.2%
- Uber (NYSE: UBER) up 5.0%
- Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) up 2.6%
- Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST) down 5.6%
- Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) down 11.4%
- Guardant Health (NASDAQ: GH) down 14.0%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow US markets higher at the open on Monday. For all the latest, check out my ASX 200 morning report.
