By Hellen Zaboulani
On Monday November 16, US Stocks rallied reaching new all-time highs, thanks to optimistic news about a vaccine for COVID-19. Biotech company, Moderna, gave Wall Street reason to hope it’s new vaccine could finally bring a halt to the pandemic.
Moderna announced Monday that in a phase III study, evaluating its mRNA-1273, the coronavirus vaccine candidate demonstrated a vaccine efficacy of 94.5%. Last week, the market had similarly received a boost from Pfizer’s announcement that its experimental vaccine was over 90 percent effective.
As reported by the NY Post, both Pfizer and Moderna have said they could pursue emergency clearance for the shots as early as this month in the US. The news gave investors’ optimism that the economy may soon be back on its feet following the harsh repercussions of the past eight months. “I would expect that the market will continue to rally anytime we receive favorable vaccine news as the threat of significant lockdowns diminishes as a result,” said Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped as much as 416.19 points, or 1.4 percent, to 29,896 following Moderna’s announcement. The blue-chip index closed on Monday at 29,951.36, up 470 points or 1.6 percent, and well above its former all-time closing high of 29,551.42, set on February 12, 2020.
The benchmark S&P 500 jumped 1.16 percent closing at a new peak of 3,626.91, after setting a closing record of 3,585.15 on Friday. The NASDAQ posted more modest gains, up .80 percent or 94.84 points to close at 11,924.13 on Monday. That is well below the NASDAQ composite’s year high of 12,108, hinting that investors sold off tech stocks which had gained during the pandemic’s lockdown.
“The initial market impact might be more cautious than after the Pfizer news given that it’s just ‘more of the same’, but the medium-term economic outlook should once again look better now,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.
Another reason for Wall Street’s gains was the global economy which posted good news from Asia. Global markets were up after Japan announced Monday that its economy grew at a 21 percent annual rate in the last quarter, while China’s factory output rose 6.9 percent in October from last year’s levels. Global markets were also up because on Sunday, 15 Asia-Pacific nations including China, Japan, South Korea and Australia signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a major trade pact which does not include the US.
