Vaccine News Has Dow Jumping Again

The stock market rose last week when Pfizer reported good news about its COVID vaccine. This week is starting out in similar fashion in the wake of Moderna's hopeful vaccine announcement, reports CNBC. The Dow jumped about 350 points, or 1%, to more than 29,800 in the opening minutes. The benchmark S&P 500 also was up, though by a smaller percentage, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (which includes stocks that have thrived amid the pandemic) was largely flat. All this comes with a note of caution from James Athey of Aberdeen Standard Investments. "There’s a long way to go between Phase III results and a normal economy," he tells the Wall Street Journal.

As expected, Moderna shares were up on the news by 10%, but the Journal notes that the long-term vaccine hopes were affecting stocks outside the biotech sector. For example, United Airlines and Royal Caribbean, both of which would benefit from an end to the pandemic, were up in pre-market trading more than 5%. On the other hand, companies such as Zoom and Peloton Interactive were down 3% to 5%. (More stock market stories.)