Stocks jump on hopes for COVID-19 treatment and Fed support

The S&P 500 jumped 2.7 percent on Wednesday on hopes for a treatment for COVID-19.

Market sentiment was buoyed by a report from Gilead Sciences on Wednesday that its drug, remdesivir, met the primary endpoint of a clinical trial evaluating the drug as a treatment for the disease.

Also on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced that it would maintain its current interest rate target between 0 and 0.25 percent.

“The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after its monetary policy meeting.

The report on remdesivir and the Fed's supportive stance helped the market shrug off news that US GDP shrank at a 4.8 percent annualised rate in the first quarter.