Global stock markets exult, propelled by announcement of effective vaccine
Chinese markets posted solid gains on Monday: in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index closed at + 1.18%, the Shanghai composite index at 1.86% and that of Shenzhen at 2.25%.
Share November 9, 2020 8:22 a.m. Updated at 9:49 a.m. Share World stock markets exult, propelled by the announcement of an effective vaccine Anne Padieu Agence France-Presse PARIS – After celebrating the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential election, Global stock markets were elated with the announcement of an effective vaccine against COVID-19.
The announcement in the middle of the day by the Pfizer and Biontech laboratories that their vaccine would be “90% effective” against COVID-19, propelled the European markets in the middle of the day. Around 7.20 a.m., Paris soared by more than 7%, Frankfurt by more than 6%, London and Milan by more than 5%.
As a whole, the European places signed their best performance over a session for six months.
The same euphoria was on the verge of reaching the United States, where the market had not yet opened but where the Dow Jones index was expected to rise by more than 4%.
Oil prices also accelerated sharply: around 8 a.m., a barrel of North Sea Brent for January delivery jumped 6.39% from Friday's close to $ 41.97.
“This news is huge, we have been waiting for it for a very long time!” Enthusiastic Daniel Larrouturou, equity manager at Dôm Finance, interviewed by AFP in Paris just after the announcement.
“It's news of the year, maybe even the decade. The vaccine against the Coronavirus is found ”, ignited in Frankfurt, Jochen Stanzl, analyst at CMC Markets. “Almost nothing could be more beautiful than this information after four years of transatlantic divisions under the Trump administration.”
Before the announcement which made Europe jubilant, the Asian and European markets had relished the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential election. The Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei flagship index, which had already jumped nearly 6% over the whole of last week, closed up 2.12%.
In the debt market, risk appetite was crashing the sovereign rates of countries considered to be the riskiest, such as Greece and Italy, whose ten-year rates have reached new levels. all-time lows of 0.728% and 0.617% respectively.
The happiness of some …
The announcement benefited all the sectors most affected by the restrictive activities, namely travel, aeronautics, banks.
Thus, the news made Airbus (+ 20%), IAG (+ 30%), Lufthansa (+ 30%), Rolls Royce (+ 29%) and Easyjet (+ 25%) take supersonic leaps. Financial stocks did not lose a thing: Societe Generale (+ 16%), BNP Paribas (+ 14%).
On the other hand, a heavy blow fell on the companies which had taken advantage of the containment measures: on the Dax, Delivery Hero (delivery of meals) was the only value in red (-4.45%), at the MDax ( German mid-value index) Hello Fresh (delivery of a home-cooked lunch box) lost 18.2%. In London, Ocado fell 8.26% and Just Eat Takeaway fell 7.14%
The announcement comes as the United States, like Europe, have faced records of new contamination in recent days and the build-up of new restrictions to deal with this second wave could seriously hinder the economic recovery.
Therefore, the prospect of a health improvement took precedence over the victory of Joe Biden whose “the stock markets hope for more predictability and less volatility,” notes Mr. Stanzl.
Investors have no doubts that Joe Biden will become US President in January even if Donald Trump does not want to concede defeat so far.
“Investors believe that his legal remedies represent nothing more than an attempt to save face” of the outgoing president, decrypts Joshua Mahony, analyst at IG.
Initially, investors feared a Democratic victory, synonymous with hikes in corporate taxes and taxes on capital income, but now they are betting on moderate policy measures.
Because, “it seems likely that the Republicans will keep control of the Senate and if this were the case, it would be more difficult for the Biden administration both to introduce stronger regulation for the technological and pharmaceutical sectors but also to increase taxes, ”observes David Madden, analyst for CMC Markets.
The dollar fell 0.07% against the euro, to 1.1882 dollars per euro, and the yen fell 1.00% against the dollar (104.41 yen) and 1.10% against the euro. 'euro (124.08 yen).
+
Pfizer share soars after vaccine announcement
Pfizer stock soared on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday in electronic exchanges preceding the opening of the Stock Exchange, after the announcement of a vaccine “90% effective” against COVID-19, pulling upward other pharmaceutical values.
Pfizer stock was up more than 15% around 8:30 a.m., after hitting 17% earlier. Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday morning that the vaccine they developed against COVID-19 is “90% effective”, after the first interim analysis of their “phase 3” trial, the last before an application for approval .
Based on projections, the companies said they plan to deliver up to 50 million doses of vaccine globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Other New York-listed pharmaceutical groups were benefiting from the news, which falls as COVID-19 infection rates hit record levels in much of the world, and part of Europe. is confined again.
Merck stock climbed more than 5%, while Johnson & Johnson stock climbed just over 4%. The American pharmaceutical group had suspended and then resumed in October the clinical trial of its experimental vaccine against COVID-19, after an unexplained illness in a volunteer.
Moderna stock gained more than 10%. The group is also actively preparing a vaccine, which is also in “phase 3”. The results are expected in November.
Gilead, which gleaned just under 1%, has a treatment for COVID-19, Redemsivir, available only in hospitals and for inpatients.
Conversely, Regeneron, which had to suspend its tests, lost more than 3%.
