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Wall Street gains on vaccine hopes, improving economic data

Published 07/01/2020, 07:31 AM
Updated 07/01/2020, 10:55 AM
© Reuters. The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York

© Reuters. The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York

By Pawel Goraj and Devik Jain

(Reuters) - Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday as rising hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine reversed premarket losses, overshadowing fears of another round of lockdowns following a record surge in coronavirus cases in the United States.

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and German biotech firm BioNTech showed promise and was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials.

Pfizer's shares jumped 4.1% on the news, while BioNTech gained 3%, helping improve the mood on Wall Street after the United States registered 47,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the biggest one-day spike since the start of the pandemic.

Updates on the progress in various COVID-19 vaccine programs are being closely watched by investors, and have been partly responsible for Wall Street's recent rally. The S&P 500 closed its best quarter since 1998 on Tuesday.

Investors have also focused on signs of an economic recovery with the easing of coronavirus-induced lockdowns. Data on Wednesday showed that a slump in global manufacturing was easing in June, with U.S. figures hitting their highest level in more than a year.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity jumped to a reading of 52.6 last month from 43.1 in May, ending three straight months of contraction.

On Thursday, all eyes will be on the Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report.

At 10:17 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 113.35 points, or 0.44%, at 25,926.23, the S&P 500 was up 16.78 points, or 0.54%, at 3,117.07. The Nasdaq Composite was up 40.39 points, or 0.40%, at 10,099.15.

Battered cruise line operators Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Holdings Inc, Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL) Cruises Ltd and Carnival (NYSE:CUK) Corp rose between 3.6% and 6%.

Macy's Inc (NYSE:M) edged up 1.7% after it reported a staggering $3.58 billion quarterly loss, led by a $3 billion impairment charge due to COVID-19 induced-store shutdowns.

FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) jumped 16.0% after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, helped by a surge in pandemic-fueled home deliveries.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.76-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

© Reuters. The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York

The S&P index recorded 7 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 6 new lows.

Latest comments

Europe should start cruises again soon, perhaps in july/August...
Hopes hopes hopes
it is not hope or vaccines for cats and dogs, it is the Fed
Trump is lieing everyday so desperate to get relabelled!
I guess all we really know for sure is that China unleashed a really nasty plague on the world and hesitated to tell anyone.
Haha last article said recovery could take 4 years... ... I don't see a lot of hope in that.
It gains on manipulation of banskters, thats it.
if contagion in the US keep on spreading with this rate most people will have the antibodies before any vaccine would be ready!
just hopes and dreams some star dust 😁
We can see many data that we are in a middle of the most largest bubble ever.
it seems Wall Street already has a vaccine of its own
In the 90s we had the infinite tech boom, where "experts" projected that there would never be a decline in the stock market. In the 2000s we had a real estate boom that "experts" predicted that real estate prices would never decline. We now have an equities market that is totally disconnected from the economy.and "experts" still say it will never decline
That's wrong, I don't know what sort of experts you are following. The press is manipulated, and they are not a part of the experts.
 i guess you don't get sarcasm, look at the word expert. it is in quotes, that indicates sarcasm, which means i don't really think the media is experts
they wont make the vaccin for the mass. they want to clean ill and old people
These articles are so stale. Are they even written by humans, or does a bot just scan the numbers and select some recycled article from the vast library of two articles and change the headlines?
lies lies lies
Who lives only by hope will die in despair
The market will not fall until november!
if the market goes up on hopes of recovery, why would it EVER go down?
Thats right, bad news is good news because there is hopes of stimulus, and good news is good news because there are hopes of recovery. Based on current logic, the target for the markets is infinity + 100
at present everything is runing on hopes only .!!
Fabricated headlines with only one goal in mind - Keep Wall St green. Meanwhile Main St. decays and languishes in bread lines
There is no latest dev about Covid vaccines. This article pulled the vaccines out of #.
Ok, now Reuters just post vaccines trials show promise.
I have seen the same headlines again and again, they seems just wanted to find something to say to ask everyone to buy then the sharks selling it
I just cannot believe what I am reading. Since at least yesterday, the medical experts were saying, do not expect a vaccine to give you 100% protection. There was only one vaccine that came close, and that was for measles. They also said many will refuse the vaccine. Now today the markets are saying they have raising hopes for the vaccine. Reading these reports on what the market is feeling or thinking, makes me feel I woke up in the psych ward on the set of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
Its duty noews. As always if no reason to pump they are take it out of pocket.
Blah blah
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