The shares of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer soared on Monday before the opening of Wall Street, after the announcement that the vaccine it develops together with BioNTech is “90 percent effective” against COVID-19 infections. Pfizer’s stock rose 17% shortly after 1:30 PM GMT.
International markets skyrocketed following the announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech that their COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, based on published results of its phase 3 trial, the last stage before formally seeking approval.
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This effectiveness in protecting patients against the SARS-CoV-2 virus was achieved seven days after the second dose of the vaccine and 28 days after the first, the American pharmaceutical company and the German biotechnology company said in a statement. set.
The hopeful announcement propelled European stock markets and was hailed as “big news” by Donald Trump. The level of efficacy of the vaccine was measured by comparing the number of participants infected with the new coronavirus in the group that received the vaccine and among those who were subjected to a placebo, according to the joint statement.
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Based on projections, both companies affirmed that they plan to supply 50 million doses in the world in 2020 and up to 1.300 million in 2021. The other pharmaceutical groups in the New York square benefited from this news, which is known when the number of coronavirus infections They are reaching record levels in much of the world, and part of Europe is once again confined.
Merck stock was up more than 5%, while Johnson & Johnson stock was up just over 4%. Moderna earned more than 10%. Gilead, who has a COVID-19 treatment, redemsivir, earned less than 1%.
After celebrating the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential elections, the excitement went through the world stock markets with the announcement of an effective vaccine against COVID-19. With the announcement at noon in Europe by the Pfizer and Biontech laboratories that their vaccine would be “90% effective” against COVID-19, markets exploded. By 11:20 GMT, Paris posted a rise of over 7%, Frankfurt over 6%, London and Milan were over 5%.
Altogether, the European squares registered their best results in a session of the last six months. In the United States, futures contracts, which allow the trend to be known before transactions begin, followed the same direction, with the Dow Jones increasing by 5.30%. On the other hand, the Nasdaq, whose stocks were the great beneficiaries of the effects of the pandemic, presented a moderate rise of 0.77%.
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Oil prices were also accelerating: around 12:10 GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for January delivery was up 7.58% compared to Friday’s close, at $ 42.44. In New York, a barrel of WTI with delivery in December grew by 8.78%, to $ 40.40.
“This news is huge, we have been waiting for it for a long time,” said Daniel Larrouturou, who manages shares in Dôm Finance, asked by AFP in Paris just after the announcement. “It is the news of the year, maybe even of the decade. The coronavirus vaccine has been found, ”said Jochen Stanzl, an analyst at CMC Markets, in Frankfurt. “Almost nothing could be more beautiful than this information after four years of transatlantic divisions under the Trump administration,” he added.
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Before the announcement that spread enthusiasm in Europe, Asian and European markets savored the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential elections. In Asia, the Nikkei star index of the Tokyo stock market, which has already risen about 6% in all of last week, closed with a rise of 2.12%.
In the debt market, the appetite for risk was crushing the sovereign indices of the countries considered the highest risk, such as Greece and Italy, whose 10-year indices reached new historical lows, respectively at 0.728% and 0.617%.
The announcement benefited all the sectors most affected by the activity restriction measures, such as travel, aeronautics or banks. The news from the labs triggered supersonic increases at Airbus (+ 20%), IAG (+ 30%), Lufthansa (+ 30%), Rolls Royce (+ 29%) and Easyjet (+ 25%).
In contrast, the companies that benefited from the lockdown measures recorded sharp falls: in Frankfurt, Delivery Hero (food delivery to home) was the only value in the red (-4.45%), in the MDax (index of German average values) Hello Fresh (delivery of food basket to cook at home) lost 18.2%. In London, Ocado fell 8.26% and Just Eat Takeaway, 7.14%
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This announcement comes at a time when the United States, like Europe, are facing records of new infections in recent days and that the accumulation of new restrictions to stop the second wave could seriously damage the economic recovery.
Thus, the prospect of a health improvement gained ground with the victory of Joe Biden, from whom “the stock markets expect greater predictability and less volatility,” Stanzl points out. Investors have no doubt that Joe Biden will become US president in January, even if Donald Trump still doesn’t want to admit defeat.
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“Investors believe that their legal recourse only represents an attempt to save the image” of the outgoing president, analyzes Joshua Mahony, an analyst at IG. At first, investors feared a Democratic victory, synonymous with increases in corporate taxes and taxes on capital income, but now they are betting on moderate policy measures.
Well, “it seems likely that the Republicans will retain control of the Senate and if they did, it would be more difficult for the Biden administration to introduce stronger regulation for the tech and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as increase taxes,” observes David Madden, analyst for CMC Markets . In currencies, the dollar fell 0.07% against the euro, to 1.1882 dollars for one euro, and the yen fell 1.00% against the dollar (104.41 yen) and 1.10% against to the euro (124.08 yen).
Source: AFP.
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