Dow, S&P 500 Jump To Record Closing Highs On Upbeat Vaccine News

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday following the mixed performance seen last week. With the upward move on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs.

The major averages all finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow surged up 470.63 points or 1.6 percent to 29,950.44, the Nasdaq climbed 94.84 points or 0.8 percent to 11,924.13 and the S&P 500 jumped 41.76 points or 1.2 percent to 3,626.92

The strength on Wall Street came following more upbeat news on the coronavirus vaccine front, with Moderna (MRNA) reporting positive results from a trial of its vaccine candidate.

Moderna said that the trial of its potential coronavirus vaccine has met the statistical criteria pre-specified in the study protocol for efficacy, with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5 percent.

"This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna.

He added, "All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease."

On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed New York manufacturing activity unexpectedly expanded at a slower rate in the month of November.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index fell to 6.3 in November from 10.5 in October. While a positive reading still indicates growth in regional manufacturing activity, economists had expected the index to rise to 13.5.

Looking ahead, the index for future business conditions held steady at 33.9, suggesting that firms remained optimistic about future conditions.

Energy stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, benefiting from a sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for December delivery jumped $1.21 to $41.34 a barrel.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index skyrocketed by 8.9 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index soared by 6.6 percent.

Considerable strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 5.7 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in five months.

Steel stocks also showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 4 percent to a nearly ten-month closing high.

Banking, computer hardware and transportation stocks also saw significant strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index spiked by 2.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.1 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both surged up by 1.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries climbed off their worst levels but still ended the day modestly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.3 basis points to 0.906 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to reports on retail sales, industrial production and homebuilder confidence.