Dow spikes 912 points as vaccine progress spurs economic-reopening optimism

Getty Images / Scott Olson

• US stocks surged on Monday as Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine candidate had shown encouraging progress.
• In a small number of healthy volunteers, Moderna’s vaccine helped create immune responses that may help protect people from being infected with the novel coronavirus.
• Investors have been closely watching for updates that can provide guidance about economic-reopening efforts, and they were encouraged by Moderna’s results.
• West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures skyrocketed as much as 13%, to $33.32 per barrel.
• Watch major indexes update live here.

US stocks surged on Monday as Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine candidate had shown encouraging progress.

In a small number of healthy volunteers, Moderna’s vaccine helped create immune responses that may help protect people from being infected with the novel coronavirus. The biotech firm is planning to start additional trials immediately and aiming to be ready this fall for potential emergency use of its vaccine.

Investors have been closely watching for updates that can provide guidance about economic-reopening efforts, and they were encouraged by Moderna’s results.

Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET market close on Monday:

Read more: GOLDMAN SACHS: Buy these 21 cheap, under-the-radar stocks that offer market-beating growth potential right now

Moderna shares spiked as much as 30% on the news of its vaccine progress. The stock is now up more than 300% year-to-date. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF climbed 3% at intraday highs.

Other stocks that would benefit from the economy reopening also gained Monday. United Airlines surged 21%, while Delta Air Lines gained roughly 14% and American Airlines jumped 9%. Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines gained 18% and 17%, respectively. Disney surged more than 7% as well. 

Read more: Small companies are the biggest post-coronavirus battleground on Wall Street. 4 of the world’s best fund managers share their strategies for the space — and the single stocks they love.

Investors also weighed headlines from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s appearance on “60 Minutes” on Sunday evening. Powell said that a US economic recovery might not arrive until the end of 2021, but also that he doesn’t expect the downturn to become a full-blown depression.

In the energy market, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures skyrocketed as much as 13%, to $33.32 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 10%, to $35.72, at intraday highs. The gains in oil sent the S&P 500’s energy sector up nearly 8%.

Read more: ‘We have a depression on our hands’: The CIO of a bearish $150 million fund says the market will grind to new lows after the current bounce is over — and warns ‘a lot more pain’ is still to come