- The Nasdaq rose 0.8% to close Friday?s session at 14,567 points.
- Zoom rallied on Friday after deal to merge with Five9 was terminated.
- Merck & Co. rose 8% on successful clinical trial results of COVID-19 pill.
The US markets rallied on Friday as President Biden took to Congress in an attempt to make progress on the infrastructure deal roadblock that Republicans and Democrats are currently battling over the size and implementation of the US$3.5tn bill.
The Dow Jones rose 1.43% to finish the trading day up 483 points to close at 34,326 points.
The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 0.8% to finish the trading day up 118 points to close at 14,567 points with Google and Apple gaining 2.4% and 0.81% respectively.
One bitcoin is worth US$48,234 going into the Asian trading day.
The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 72.74 US cents.
Shares in video conferencing leader Zoom rallied on Friday after the company announced it has abandoned its deal to buy cloud contact centre software maker Five9 for around US$14.7bn. Neither Zoom or Five9 explained in-depth why the deal had been terminated but the CEO of Five9 said his business not combining with Zoom ?opens significant potential for value creation as a stand-alone company?.
US-based pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. soared 8% on Friday after the drugmaker announced positive clinical trial results for its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill. The results of Merck?s ?molnupiravir? pill showed the potential for a person?s chance of dying or being hospitalised as a result of COVID-19, to be halved.
And Traffic app Waze will now tell drivers if there are fuel shortages at specific petrol stations but relies on users to notify the app when they come across a station running out of fuel.