Global Stocks jump as Gilead raises hope of Covid-19 treatment

US stock futures are higher by 2.7% as well as the stock of Gilead the drug company said to be developing a medicine that could help battle the coronavirus outbreak.

Gilead Sciences is up 12.5 percent in pre-market trading at around $86.38 per share, after reports suggested that its investigational drug remdesivir may be effective against Covid-19.

European stocks have extended their gains amid optimism over the Gilead Sciences trials.

The FTSE 100, which started the day up around 2.5% is now trading higher by around 3.5%.

The report that set off the gains said that early data on Gilead’s coronavirus medicine Remdesivir is ‘very encouraging’. The early data referred to is a clinical trial of 125 patients at the University of Chicago with coronavirus who were all given Remdesivir and have nearly all survived with a speedy recovery within a week.