Wall Street staged a new coronavirus vaccine rally on Monday following Moderna's (NASDAQ: MNRA) preliminary efficacy results that showed that its vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID infection in patients. Positive sentiment launched the Dow Jones to new record intraday and closing highs as the benchmark approached 30,000. The S&P 500 also posted a fresh closing high.
Moderna's early clinical trial results follow Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech's (NASDAQ: BTNX) made last Monday, where the pair presented data that their vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing infection. Both vaccines use the same messenger RNA technology and require two doses administered 28 days apart. Market participants were also encouraged by Moderna's announcement that their vaccine can be stored at typical refrigerator temperatures for up to 30 days, while Pfizer's requires subzero storage temperatures.
Here's how the market settled to start the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.17% or +41.87 points to 3,627.02
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.6% or +472.01 points to 29,951.36
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.8% or +94.84 points to 11,924.13
For Stock News, reopening names and financials soared as the market cycled out of stocks like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX): American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Delta (NYSE: DAL), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Norwegian (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL). VIrgin Galactic (NASDAQ: SPCE) shares slumped after the space tourism company postponed their next launch indefinitely and as SpaceX launched another manned spacecraft.
For Sector Performance, all industries except Health Care (NYSE: XLV) joined in Monday's vaccine rally, with the sector falling slightly into negative territory. Energy (NYSE: XLE) continued its trend of highly fluctuating between highs and lows, this time increasing over 6%. Industrials (NYSE: XLI), Financials (NYSE: XLF) and Materials (NYSE: XLB) also rose higher by over 2% on optimism towards faster economic recovery.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) was little changed on Monday as the optimism that rallied stocks during the session did not really enter the foreign exchange market. The dollar index held relatively flat at 92.64 against other global currencies. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices dipped and then recovered on Monday as investors balanced positive vaccine news against surging coronavirus cases and bets on further economic stimulus ahead of eventual vaccine approvals and distributions. Spot gold finished Monday steady at $1,887.10 per ounce, while gold futures settled 0.1% higher at $1,887.80 per ounce. Gold prices fell as much as 1.3% after Moderna announced that its vaccine was more than 94% effective, which was notably less than the 5% drop that occurred following Pfizer's and BioNTech's announcement last Monday. Crude oil futures jumped on Monday on prospects of another highly effective vaccine. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) contracts for January increased 2.4% at $43.80 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) contracts for December settled 3.02% higher at $41.34 each.
For Tuesday, market participants will focus on fresh retail sales data for October, as well as quarterly earnings from companies like Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT).