By Justin Pei
Rochester – Global stocks surged on Wednesday after unconfirmed reports of a possible breakthrough in coronavirus treatment for patients.
Reuters reported that a Chinese media outlet had reported that researchers at Zhejiang University had found an effective drug for treating the virus. The World Health Organization has not confirmed the reports however, and said in a statement Wednesday that “There are no known effective therapeutics against this 2019-nCoV and WHO recommends enrollment into a randomized controlled trial to test efficacy and safety.”
Regardless, traders have credited the sharp move in the stock markets to the reports. Continuing from Tuesday’s momentum, stocks continued to rise in the U.S. as investors recover from the drop-off caused by coronavirus fears.
The Dow Jones is up by more than 250 points, or 1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.70%, while the Nasdaq Composite trimmed lower at about 0.30%. Additionally, European stocks have also rebounded from last week’s losses, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 up by over 1%.
Oil prices have also jumped after the reports. Brent crude oil futures were up 3.8% at $56.00 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 3.9% to $51.54 per barrel.
