By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened higher again on Wednesday, regaining their poise after a late stumble on Tuesday caused by a cold shower on the prospects of a cure for the Covid-19 virus.
By 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 299 points or 1.2% at 24,506 points. The S&P 500 was up 1.3% while the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.5%.
The move comes after President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin both talked up the prospects of a strong bounce-back for the economy in the third quarter, amid increasing signs of economic reopening across the country ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. Investors found such comments fresher on Tuesday than those of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who warned for the third time in a week that the economy could well need further support measures.
Among the biggest early gainers was Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock, which gained another 4.1% after the social media company received positive reviews for its decision to get back into online shopping, which it announced on Tuesday.
Facebook Shops will be aimed primarily at small businesses and will be rolled out first on the Facebook and Instagram apps, and subsequently on the Whatsapp and Messenger messaging apps.
Another early riser was biotech company Inovio (NASDAQ:INO), which reported positive results on animals in preclinical trials for its flagship initiative to find a vaccine for Covid-19. Inovio stock has been susceptible to violent spikes on the back of previous announcements that have quickly receded.
Meanwhile, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock was down another 1.8% after the health website Stat cited experts as saying that the selective test results it published for its experimental vaccine had too little data to be a reliable guide to its effectiveness.
The coronavirus pandemic also had a positive effect on sales at home improvement store Lowe's. Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) stock rose 2.0%, paring premarket gains, after the company reported stronger-than-expected numbers for its fiscal first quarter, with a 33% beat on the bottom line that may have come at the expense of future quarters. Target (NYSE:TGT) stock fell 0.9% after the big box retailer also reported a strong increase in sales but a concurrent increase in operating costs.
Elsewhere, {{|U.S. crude}} oil prices extended their recent gains, rising 5.2% to a new two-month high of $33.62 a barrel on confidence of a pickup in demand. Gold Futures also rose 0.5% to $1,753 an ounce, on course for their highest close in eight years.