World shares jump on coronavirus treatment hopes

A lab technician visually inspects a filled vial of investigational coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment drug remdesivir at a Gilead Sciences facility in La Verne, California, U.S. March 11, 2020. Picture taken March 11, 2020. Gilead Sciences Inc/Handout via REUTERS

NEW YORK: World stock markets rose sharply on Wednesday following encouraging news for an experimental COVID-19 treatment and some positive earnings reports, while beaten-up oil prices soared.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 2.35%. Major U.S. averages ended up well over 2%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.75%.