 Major averages advance; small caps outperform Energy leads sector gainers; staples, utilities fall Dollar slip, gold rises, oil jumps; U.S. 10-Yr yield0.61 April 29 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage ofU.S. equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reportersand anchored today by Sinéad Carew. Reach Sinéad on Messenger toshare your thoughts on market moves: STOCKS RISE WITH FED SUPPORT, VIRUS TREATMENT HOPES 1605EDT2005 GMT U.S. stocks advanced on Wednesday though they pared gainssharply right before the close. Stocks were boosted by positivetrial results for a potential treatment for COVID-19 and bycomments from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said now is not the time to worryabout debt, but to use the great fiscal power of the UnitedStates to avoid deeper damage to the economy from the virus. Healso warned that the virus would slam near-term growth and poseconsiderable risks in the medium term. There as no expectation of a rate decision. Were at thezero bound and well be there for the foreseeable future. Whatthe market really likes from Powell is his suggestion thattheres more the Fed can do both in terms of the size and scopeof its tools to aid the economy and markets. This implies thatthe Fed is not out of ammunition, said Michael Antonelli,market strategist at Baird in Milwaukee. Long before Powell spoke investors had been cheering afterpositive early trial results for Gilead Sciences Incsantiviral remdesivir, which a top U.S. health official saidwould likely to become the standard of care for COVID-19 as ithelped certain patients recover more quickly. Here is your closing snapshot: Sinéad Carew ARE STOCKS JUST POPULAR BECAUSE CASINOS ARE CLOSED? 1315EDT1815 GMT While volatile stock markets tend to scare away manypart-time investors, DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas saysthis market is unusual as data suggests that retail investorshave actually been piling in. His explanation? Casinos andsports events have been closed down, so stocks may be providinggamblers with their only chance for a flutter. Colas cites data from online broker Robinhood showing a 40-120 increase in accounts holding stocks including Ford,Aurora Cannabis, General Electric, GoPro Inc and Disney compared with March 1, beforeCOVID-19 related lockdowns. He notes that aside from Disney, this is a list of hugelyvolatile stocks, which leads him to the conclusion that it mustbe at least partly due to participation by gamblers who can nolonger go to the casino. The dopamine rush of a full house isthe same as holding a hat-sized stock into an up 3 open on theSP. The human brain doesnt know or care that one isgambling a proven long-run zero return and one is investingproven long-run compounding, said Colas, also citing data onGoogle searches for the term buy stock as a support for whathe concedes is a somewhat off-the-wall analysis. But the data also leads him to wonder what happens when theUS economy starts to reopen, and retail investors can go outsideand to work instead of sit at home trading? For similar reasons, Julian Emanuel, chief equity andderivatives strategist at BTIG, also sounded worried about whathappens to trading when the economy reopens. Emanuel says demand for equities among the Millennial agegroup is a core part of his firms thesis for higher stockprices. So when Millennial investors are among the first toreturn to work and have to leave their trading screens, he seesa key source of demand for high-flying FAANG stocks disappearingwith them. Sinéad Carew SP 500: TRYING TO LEAP OVER A FIBO FENCE 1201 EDT1601GMT The SP 500 is forging just above a key Fibonacciretracement of its February-March swoon. Click on chart below Indeed, the broad-market average has pushed slightly abovethe 61.8 Fibonacci retracement of the recent bear-phase at2,934.49. Traders will be watching to see if it can make theleap into the close. Meanwhile, a momentum study is also nearing an importanthurdle. After falling into deeply oversold territory inlate-February, the daily RSI now at about 66 has been steadilyimproving. That said, it has yet to muster enough strength tomove back into overbought territory 70.00. If the SPX can overwhelm the Fibo barrier, with the RSImoving back into overbought, it can suggest potential for a moreextensive recovery. This because the indexs strong underlyingthrust may require more time to dissipate, as was the caseearlier this year. At that time, the SP 500 made higher highswhile the RSI diverged. The SPX only peaked after a period ofwaning momentum. On a greater advance, the SPX will still have to contendwith its 200-day moving average now at about 3,006. Themaximum Fibonacci retracement zone of the February-March slide76.478.6 is at 3,109.933,136.36. The Nasdaq 100 isahead of the game, and already nearing this resistance. Thus, action in the aftermath of todays FOMC Meeting may becritical, given the potential for increased volatility. Terence Gabriel GDP DROPS 4.8, ENDING THE LONGEST-EVER U.S. ECONOMICEXPANSION 1100 EDT1500 GMTThe U.S. economy suffered its sharpest decline in 11 years inthe first quarter as shutdown orders to curb the COVID-19pandemic brought business activity and consumer spending to ascreeching halt. Gross domestic product GDP contracted at a4.8 annual rate in the first quarter, according to the U.S.Commerce Department, marking the largest drop since the globalfinancial crisis. In comparison, analysts had expected GDP to fall by 4, andmany believe the worst is yet to come. Ultimately, the market knew this was bad, didnt know theexact number, but knew that it was a significant negativeleading to what will be a more significant negative, saidJustin Hoogendoorn, head of fixed income strategic analytics atPiper Sandler. Personal expenditures shrank at 7.6, the data points worstshowing since 1980 according to Oxford Economics, which is badnews considering the American consumer accounts for about 70 ofthe economy. A separate report from the National Association of RealtorsNAR showed pending sales of existing homes plungedby 20.8 in March, blowing past the 10 drop economistspredicted. While Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, expects listingsand buying activity will begin to resume as the economy slowlyrestarts, he suspects the damage has been done. The usual Spring buying season will be missed, however, soa bounce-back later in the year will be insufficient to make upfor the loss of sales in the second quarter, Yun writes.Overall, home sales are projected to have declined 14 for theyear. But bad economic data seems baked into the market for now. All three major U.S. stock indexes were sharply higher, withthe SPs Energy sector leading the charge in percentagegains. Stephen Culp, Karen Pierog WALL STREET RISES WITH VIRUS TREATMENT HOPES 1030 EDT1430GMT Even as data showed the U.S. economy declined more thanexpected in the first quarter, Wall Streets main indexes wererising on Wednesday as investors were optimistic about resultsfrom trials of a potential COVID-19 treatment from GileadSciences. Investors have been heavily focused on trials for potentialCOVID-19 treatments as they are betting that once patients canbe treated, officials will be have greater confidence easingstay-at-home rules to help reboot the economy. Gilead said its experimental antiviral drug remdesivirhelped improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19, and provideddata suggesting it worked better when given earlier in thecourse of infection. If it actually works then thats good news. The marketsmoving on the Gilead news, said Chris Zaccarelli, chiefinvestment officer, Independent Advisor Alliance, Charlotte, NCin a telephone call. Zaccarelli wrote that the awful Q1 GDP decline of 4.8 waseven worse when you consider that the first two months of thefirst quarter were relatively normal and this number onlyincludes the March lockdowns. But he noted, GDP news is backward looking. Everybody knewit was going to be bad. What matters to the market is forward looking informationlike when were going to get a cure or a vaccine. Any news ontreatment or a vaccine for COVID-19 is going to outweighbackward looking economic numbers, he said. The SP 500s communication services sectorwas the biggest gainer as Google rose 8. After this Energy and financial sectors werethe SPs biggest percentage gainers. Mastercard shares rose more than 6 after it reportedquarterly results that were much better than feared. Moredefensive sectors lost ground. Here is a snapshot of early trading: Sinéad Carew STOCK FUTURES REACT TO THE 3Gs, POINT TO HIGHER OPEN 0856EDT1256 GMT U.S. equity index futures are pointing to a higher open forthe major averages on Wednesday. This after Alphabet reported double-digit adrevenue growth in its quarterly report on Wednesday, and Gilead Sciences said this morningthat its experimental antiviral drug, remdesivir, had met themain goal of a trial testing it in COVID-19 patients. That said, Q1 Advance GDP fell 4.8 vs. a Reuters pollcalling for a decline of 4. In any event, as the market sorts through the GOOGL, Gileadnews and the GDP data, stock futures have strengthened, whilethe U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield is around 0.60. 