US: Stocks surge on Covid-19 vaccine progress, Dow ends +3.9%

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks rocketed higher on Monday following positive news on the first clinical tests of a coronavirus vaccine, lifting shares of airlines, hotels and other beaten-down sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average piled on more than 900 points, or 3.9 per cent, to 24,597.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 3.2 per cent to 2,953.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.4 per cent to 9,234.83.

The rally followed a press release from US biotech firm Moderna that reported "positive interim" results in the phase 1 test of a vaccine candidate. A Phase 3 trial, the largest and most important to validate the efficacy of a vaccine, should begin in July.

Shares of Moderna shot up 20 per cent.

Briefing.com said "caution" was needed given that the testing is still so preliminary, but added that "today's news is a key step to getting back to normal."

Moderna's announcement lifted the market generally, but had an especially beneficial impact on companies in travel, entertainment and other sectors that have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 shutdown.

This group included United Airlines, up 21.1 per cent, Marriott International, up 17.4 billion, live events company Live Nation, up 15.3 per cent and shopping mall owner Simon Property Group, up 10.9 per cent.

Analysts said there were some secondary factors that supported stocks, including the steps by more states in the US to reopen their economies and a broadcast interview with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said the economic downturn would not be as bad as the Great Depression.

Among other stocks, Uber Technologies rose 3.6 per cent as it announced it is cutting a quarter of its global workforce to survive the financial hit to its business from the coronavirus pandemic, impacting around 3,000 employees.

AFP