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| - US stocks surged early Tuesday after data showed a jump in retail sales in May and as a clinical trial showed promising results for treating coronavirus. About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 26,499.41, up 2.9 percent or around 735 points. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.6 percent to 3,146.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 2.3 percent to 9,946.00. US retail sales posted a surprise spike of 17.7 percent in May, the Commerce Department said, a better-than-expected result that suggests the economy may be recovering from coronavirus shutdowns more quickly than expected. Adding to the positive sentiment, a study at Oxford University showed use of the steroid dexamethasone cut risk of death for people on ventilators from 40 to 28 percent. After rising consistently in April and May, stocks have been volatile in June as investors have weighed signs of a partial economic recovery against an uptick in coronavirus cases in some states and worries about excessive stock valuations. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to begin two days of congressional testimony later Tuesday. He is expected to be questioned about conflicting signs of the state of the US economy and whether additional fiscal stimulus is needed. Among individual companies, homebuilder Lennar rose 1.9 percent as it reported higher second-quarter profits and said new orders rose "significantly" in May following weakness earlier in the quarter. jmb/cs
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