Stocks were mixed Tuesday as investors reined in an initial wave of optimism over a promising vaccine candidate. Tech shares remained under pressure, and the Nasdaq dipped further after Monday’s losses.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="News that a Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech’s (BNTX) vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in patients in its clinical trial helped fuel a market rally earlier on Monday. During the regular session, the S&P 500 and Dow rocketed to intraday records, with the latter index adding as many as 1,610 points, or 5.7% at session highs. However, both indices pared some gains into market close.” data-reactid=”17″>News that a Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech’s (BNTX) vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in patients in its clinical trial helped fuel a market rally earlier on Monday. During the regular session, the S&P 500 and Dow rocketed to intraday records, with the latter index adding as many as 1,610 points, or 5.7% at session highs. However, both indices pared some gains into market close.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="“I think the big surprise here was the efficacy. I think you had polled investors before this, the efficacy range would have been 50-75% as sort of a wide range,” Stuart Kaiser, UBS Head of Equity Derivatives Research, told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “And if this number is truly 90% or above, I think that is what the market is responding so positively to.” ” data-reactid=”18″>“I think the big surprise here was the efficacy. I think you had polled investors before this, the efficacy range would have been 50-75% as sort of a wide range,” Stuart Kaiser, UBS Head of Equity Derivatives Research, told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “And if this number is truly 90% or above, I think that is what the market is responding so positively to.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="More positive news from companies working on COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics came out during the overnight session. Eli Lilly (LLY) said its antibody therapy for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 in high-risk patients had received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Shares of the drug-maker rose more than 3% in early trading.” data-reactid=”19″>More positive news from companies working on COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics came out during the overnight session. Eli Lilly (LLY) said its antibody therapy for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 in high-risk patients had received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Shares of the drug-maker rose more than 3% in early trading.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Shares of cruise lines, airlines and lodging companies – which each stand to benefit from the increase in consumer confidence that an effective vaccine might confer – gave back some gains after surging during the regular session.” data-reactid=”20″>Shares of cruise lines, airlines and lodging companies – which each stand to benefit from the increase in consumer confidence that an effective vaccine might confer – gave back some gains after surging during the regular session.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Many of the tech stocks that had led the market higher earlier this year did not participate in Monday’s rally, however, and continued to sell off Tuesday morning. Investors unloaded positions in software names that had climbed throughout much of 2020, as traders treated them as safer bets while the pandemic threatened to keep people mostly at home. Other safe haven assets, including gold, silver and U.S. Treasuries, steadied Tuesday morning after tumbling during Monday’s session.” data-reactid=”21″>Many of the tech stocks that had led the market higher earlier this year did not participate in Monday’s rally, however, and continued to sell off Tuesday morning. Investors unloaded positions in software names that had climbed throughout much of 2020, as traders treated them as safer bets while the pandemic threatened to keep people mostly at home. Other safe haven assets, including gold, silver and U.S. Treasuries, steadied Tuesday morning after tumbling during Monday’s session.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="A successful vaccine has widely been viewed by investors, company executives and politicians as the key component of a broad-based economic reopening and sustained recovery. About 27 million workers, or around 22% of the U.S. workforce, are in occupations that require close physical proximity, Torsten Slok, chief economist for Apollo Global Management, pointed out in a note, with many of these workers having been put out of work by the fall-out from the pandemic and social distancing orders.” data-reactid=”22″>A successful vaccine has widely been viewed by investors, company executives and politicians as the key component of a broad-based economic reopening and sustained recovery. About 27 million workers, or around 22% of the U.S. workforce, are in occupations that require close physical proximity, Torsten Slok, chief economist for Apollo Global Management, pointed out in a note, with many of these workers having been put out of work by the fall-out from the pandemic and social distancing orders.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Still, widespread distribution of a vaccine – from either Pfizer or one of the other companies in late-stage trials including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Moderna (MRNA) – is not likely to take place for months, even after approval is granted. Some analysts cautioned against extrapolating too far beyond Monday’s knee-jerk jump higher in markets as the race for a vaccine, and the ongoing uncertainty over whether Congress might deliver additional fiscal stimulus in the meantime, continue to play out.” data-reactid=”23″>Still, widespread distribution of a vaccine – from either Pfizer or one of the other companies in late-stage trials including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Moderna (MRNA) – is not likely to take place for months, even after approval is granted. Some analysts cautioned against extrapolating too far beyond Monday’s knee-jerk jump higher in markets as the race for a vaccine, and the ongoing uncertainty over whether Congress might deliver additional fiscal stimulus in the meantime, continue to play out.
“The vaccine news is really a 2021 story and we still have the worst to deal with COVID, as cases run at new highs. So the vaccine is not an immediate fix,” Carter Henderson, Fort Pitt Capital Portfolio Specialist, told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “That’s why we believe stimulus is still on the table. So if we get news about stimulus early in next year coupled with vaccine news, we think the market could have a true melt-up.”
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12:41 p.m. ET: Dow holds higher while tech selling leads S&P 500, Nasdaq lower
The three major indices remained mixed during Tuesday’s afternoon session, with declines across many of the heavily weighted tech stocks pulling both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into the red.
The information technology, consumer discretionary and communication services sectors led the declines in the S&P 500, while consumer staples, industrials and energy stocks outperformed. The Dow rose more than 200 points, bucking the downward trend of the other two indices as shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance jumped 8.5%, and Boeing rose 6.8%.
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10:02 a.m. ET: Job openings little changed in September from August, though government openings fall as Census worker demand drops: BLS
The number of job openings decreased in the federal government by 20,000, and the number of hires fell by 256,000 primarily due to a drop in demand for temporary 2020 Census workers, the BLS added. Hires also fell in retail trade and educational services, while rising in accommodation and food services, wholesale trade, and transportation and warehousing industries.
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9:32 a.m. ET: S&P 500, Nasdaq fall while Dow adds to Monday’s gains
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:32 a.m. ET:
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S&P 500 (^GSPC): -4.67 points (-0.13%) to 3,545.83
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Dow (^DJI): +151.57 points (+0.52%) to 29,309.54
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Nasdaq (^IXIC): -63.90 points (-0.52%) to 11,654.1
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Crude (CL=F): +$0.62 (+1.54%) to $40.91 a barrel
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Gold (GC=F): +$24.20 (+1.31%) to $1,878.60 per ounce
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10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.8 bps to yield 0.966%
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7:24 a.m. ET: Stocks point to mixed open, Dow futures add 200+ points while tech shares slide
Here were the main moves in markets as of 7:24 a.m. ET:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,540.25, down 3.75 points or 0.11%
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Dow futures (YM=F): 28,278.00, up 230 points or 0.79%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 11,635.75, down 184.75 points or 1.56%
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Crude (CL=F): +$0.25 (+0.62%) to $40.54 a barrel
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Gold (GC=F): +$22.30 (+1.2%) to $1,876.70 per ounce
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10-year Treasury (^TNX): -2.1 bps to yield 0.937%
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7:12 a.m. ET Tuesday: EU files antitrust complaint against Amazon, opens a second probe over the e-commerce platform
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="The European Union on Tuesday said it issued a statement of objections against Amazon over practices it has implemented while serving as both a marketplace platform and seller, which the EU said the company has used to make “strategic business decisions to the detriment of the other marketplace sellers.” Amazon shares fell 2% in early trading.” data-reactid=”59″>The European Union on Tuesday said it issued a statement of objections against Amazon over practices it has implemented while serving as both a marketplace platform and seller, which the EU said the company has used to make “strategic business decisions to the detriment of the other marketplace sellers.” Amazon shares fell 2% in early trading.
“The Commission’s preliminary view, outlined in its Statement of Objections, is that the use of non-public marketplace seller data allows Amazon to avoid the normal risks of retail competition and to leverage its dominance in the market for the provision of marketplace services in France and Germany – the biggest markets for Amazon in the EU,” the EU said in a statement. “If confirmed, this would infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.”
The statement of objections does not mark the end or the outcome of an investigation or suggest any fines or changes to Amazon’s business model that the EU might eventually demand. It does, however, raise the specter of further action against the company.
The EU also announced it opened a second antitrust investigation over whether Amazon’s business practices “might artificially favor its own retail offers and offers of marketplace sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services (the so-called ‘fulfillment by Amazon or FBA sellers’).”
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6:01 p.m. ET Monday: Stock futures open higher amid lingering vaccine optimism
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 6:01 p.m. ET Monday evening:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,556.00, up 12 points or 0.34%
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Dow futures (YM=F): 28,153.00, up 105 points or 0.36%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 11,882.25, up 61.75 points or 0.52%
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