NY Stock Market Soars Because Pfizer Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Shows 90% Efficacy
The progress of the COVID-19 vaccine announced Monday appeared to be what the stock market needed to reach new highs. Both the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened with intraday records after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing disease during their phase three trial, and that it is being prepared. for an emergency deployment.
Drug makers said no serious safety concerns were noted during the trial, which included about 44,000 patients.
Pfizer and BioNTech are now increasing production of the vaccine. They said they expected to produce more than 50 million doses by the end of the year and more than 1 billion doses in 2021.
This is where the NY Stock Exchange indices placed shortly after the 9:30 am ET open on Monday:
- News about the progress of vaccines spread through various areas of the stock market. Pfizer soared 8% as investors expect the company to benefit from a quick launch of the vaccine.
- The cyclical reopening of trade also boosted gains Monday morning. Shares of airlines and cruise ships rose as investors likely anticipate pent-up demand for travel once a vaccine has been widely administered. Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings led a broad rally in movie theater stocks, increasing about 48% on Monday morning.
- Berkshire Hathaway soared 7% in share purchases, record buybacks and the news about the Pfizer vaccine.
- On the other hand, work-from-home company stocks suffered in the news, as people are more likely to spend less time at home and return to offices once the COVID-19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror. Zoom , Peloton , DocuSign and Netflix went under on Monday.
- Biogen plunged 32% after an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration said its Alzheimer's therapy would not receive approval early next year.
- Oil prices soared. West Texas Intermediate crude rose as much as 11% to $ 41.33 a barrel. Brent crude , the international benchmark for oil, rose 10% to $ 43.48 a barrel at intraday highs.
- Gold slid Monday , falling as low as 4.2 at $ 1,868.97 an ounce.
