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Investing.com – The Dow rallied on Wednesday led by a surge in airlines that rose on hopes lawmakers could agree to targeted coronavirus stimulus packages.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.97%, or 547 points. The S&P 500 was up 1.81%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.86%.
Hopes for stimulus were restored somewhat after President Donald Trump said he was ready to sign off on piecemeal measures, including support for individuals, small businesses and airlines.
Delta Air Line (NYSE:DAL) rose more than 3%, while American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) and United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) were up more than 4%.
The call for targeted stimulus comes a day after Trump halted stimulus talks and claimed U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was negotiating in bad faith.
Tech, meanwhile, pared its losses from a day earlier. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), which together make up a quarter weighting of the S&P 500, traded higher.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), meanwhile, jumped more than 5% after the Pivotal Research upgraded its price target on the stock to $650 from $600, citing a ramp-up in cord-cutting trends.
Energy lagged the broader move higher, weighed down by falling oil prices on renewed demand concerns after data showed U.S. weekly crude supplies rose by more than expected.
In earnings news, Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) reported quarterly earnings of 8 cents per share, topping estimates for a loss of 22 cents per share, sending the stock more than 6% higher.
On the health care front, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) jumped 4% after filing a Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization for its experimental COVID-19 antibody therapy. The company said early results from a study of the antibody therapy suggested the drug reduced symptoms and hospitalizations for patients with mild or moderate COVID-1.
