US Stocks Jump Despite Trump Virus Uncertainty

Wall Street stocks marched higher on Monday to end with solid gains as investors appeared unfazed by US President Donald Trump's battle with Covid-19.

The Dow Jones gained 1.7 percent to finish at 28,148.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.8 percent to 3,408, while the Nasdaq surged 2.3 percent to 11,332.

Stocks slumped on Friday after Trump announced his diagnosis, but the president announced during Monday trading he would be leaving the Walter Reed military medical centre he had checked into last week.

Former vice president Joe Biden's solidifying lead over Trump in the November vote as well as positive economic developments also reassured investors, analysts said.

"Renewed hopes of a bipartisan fiscal stimulus agreement are also lifting the mood, while indications that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has widened his lead in the polls is reducing concern over the possibility of a contested November election," Wells Fargo Advisors said in a note.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked again on Monday as they searched for a long-elusive agreement on additional stimulus for the pummelled US economy, a top Pelosi aide said.

The two sides have been negotiating for weeks over a follow-up package to the US$2.2 trillion Cares Act passed as the coronavirus pandemic erupted earlier this year.

In economic data, the Institute for Supply Management said the dominant US services sector saw growth accelerate in September and employment break a six-month contraction, with its services index rising 0.9 points to 57.8 percent.

Among individual stocks, ExxonMobil rebounded from an early decline, gaining 2.3 percent after announcing plans to lay off 11 percent of its European workforce.

MyoKardia, which specialises in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments, shot up 58 percent after pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb announced it would buy the firm. Bristol Myers gained 0.8 percent. (AFP)