Wall Street rallies on promising coronavirus drug; Dow, S&P rise over 2%

US stocks surged on Wednesday as hopes for an effective COVID-19 treatment prompted a broad rally and helped investors shrug off bleak GDP data and words of warning from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Big tech companies provided the biggest lift to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, and pushed all three major US stock averages closer to their all-time highs reached in February.

All are well within 20 per cent  of their record levels, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq now within 10 per cent  of its high.Smaller companies, which stand to benefit more from restrictions being lifted on a state-by-state basis,