Wall Street was in positive territory on Tuesday but surrendered strong earlier gains after a report that an experimental antiviral drug for the coronavirus flopped in its first randomised clinical trial.
Wall Street was weighed down by news a trial to use a drug by Gilead Sciences to treat COVID-19 has failed.Last Friday, Wall Street rallied in part because of a report that COVID-19 patients in a separate study had responded positively to remdesivir.The market's sensitivity to news related to coronavirus therapies reflects investors' desperation for any indication of when the global economy might be able to start returning to normal.
"The decline in initial jobless claims is encouraging, but the damage has already been done with the insured unemployment rate surging to a record high in the week," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics. Still, the mood was "risk-on" with utilities, real estate and consumer staples the only decliners among S&P 500 sectors.