US equity markets booked another round of solid gains as the benchmark indices look to consolidate last week’s hefty weekly rebound (that Dow record its strongest weekly advance (up +12.8%) since 1938, while the S&P 500 rose 10.3% for its biggest weekly jump since 2008) - Dow gained +691-points or +3.19% after briefly dipping into the red in morning trading. Johnson & Johnson jumped +8% after the company said it had identified a lead candidate in its efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, with human trials to begin by September at the latest and the product potentially ready in early 2021. The broader S&P500 gained +3.35% . Medical device maker Abbott Laboratories rallied after announcing late last Friday (27 March) that it received emergency use authorisation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a rapid COVID-19 test. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc rose +5%, while the American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) for Sanofi SA advanced 4.9% after the companies said Monday (30 March) that the first patient in a global clinical trial testing Kevzara as a therapy for patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19 had been treated. Ford Motor Co announced late in the session that it has reached a deal to begin manufacturing ventilators needed by hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. The company said that it will manufacture the equipment at an Ypsilanti, Michigan, plant using a design licensed from Airon Corp. by the health care division of General Electric Co. The NASDAQ rose +3.57%. Apple Inc (up +2.9%) was added to Bank of America’s ‘best ideas’, with analysts citing the company’s stellar balance sheet (US$200B in gross cash and ~US$100B in net cash or ~US$22 per share). Microsoft Corp jumped +7% while Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc climbed +3.3% and +3.4%, respectively. Domino's Pizza Inc reported global retail sales are up 4.4% thus far in preliminary first-quarter numbers it shared on Monday. Domino's is scheduled to release its final quarterly results on 23 April.
