Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD)

[Tha Part Time Er]

Stocks staged a broad rally Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite setting yet another record high, after Gilead Sciences announced that its remdesivir treatment reduced the risk of death for Covid-19 patients, based on new data from the company.

The more upbeat news on the virus treatment front led “recovery” stocks higher, with financials and energy sectors that had lagged over the past few weeks leading the S&P 500’s more than 1% advance. The S&P 500 financials sector (XLF) rose by the most in five weeks, and cruise line and airline stocks also advanced strongly.

Still, virus fears lingered, as the global economy struggles to contain surging coronavirus cases — which have set single-day records in the United States, led by spikes in the Sun Belt region. Abroad, Hong Kong said it was set to close schools again starting on Monday, following a new batch of infections in the region. And Mexico saw a record number of new cases to overtake Spain – once a global epicenter of the virus – in the number of overall cases. Major equity indices in Asia closed out Friday’s session lower.

Signs that the outbreak was worsening stoked a further risk-off mood in markets. California, Florida and Texas each posted record one-day coronavirus deaths as of Thursday. Crude oil prices (CL=F) steadied on Friday after posting their biggest drop in two weeks amid fears about falling demand. Investors piled into the relative safety of the bond market, and the benchmark 10-year yield fell to the lowest level since mid-April Friday morning.

However, technology has become a new safe haven, with Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Tesla and Microsoft all soaring to fresh records this week. Investors have plowed cash into names viewed as most likely to recover strongly in the wake of the pandemic.

The recent surge in tech shares widened the yawning gap in performance between sectors weighed heavily in tech stocks, and those without. The S&P 500’s information technology and consumer discretionary sectors – the latter of which includes Amazon – have each rallied well over 10% since June 1, versus a roughly 3% gain in the broader market. The energy sector has fallen 11.7% since June 1, and the utilities and financials sectors have dropped 5.6% and 3.9%, respectively.