More Upbeat Vaccine News Leads To Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Following the mixed performance seen last week, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside after ending the previous session in negative territory.

The Dow jumped 327.79 points or 1.1 percent to 29,591.27, the Nasdaq edged up 25.66 points or 0.2 percent to 11,880.63 and the S&P 500 climbed 20.05 points or 0.6 percent to 3,577.59.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders reacted positively to additional upbeat news regarding a potential coronavirus vaccine.

AstraZeneca (AZN) announced the its vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent.

The drug maker said one dosing regimen showed vaccine efficacy of 90 percent when given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month apart, while another dosing regimen showed 62 percent efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for Regeneron's Covid-19 antibody treatment, while purportedly helped President Donald Trump fend off the disease.

Energy stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, as the upbeat vaccine news led to optimism about the outlook for demand.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiked by 9.5 percent, the NYSE Arca Oil Index soared by 7.3 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index surged up by 5.6 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 4 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Steel, computer hardware and banking stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while gold stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, although the Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.1 percent, while South Korea's KOSPI surged up by 1.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside after trending higher over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.6 basis points at 0.855 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to the latest coronavirus-related news along with reports on home prices and consumer confidence.