Global shares relatively recorded impressive outing, as stock traders and global investors got excited over the news that revealed leading drugmaker Pfizer Inc could have a COVID-19 vaccine available for the world’s largest economy by the end of 2020.
- Two of the three major American stock indexes pared earlier gains at the last trading session for the week, with the S&P 500 little changed at 3,483.81, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% to close at 28,606.31.
- However, the tech-dominated index, Nasdaq Composite, reversed into losses to end down at 0.4%
- Shares of Pfizer gained 3.8%, and the stock was the biggest contributor to the S&P 500’s gains on Friday.
- The U.S. drugmaker said it could file for U.S. authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with German partner BioNTech as early as late November.
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Backstory
Recall Nairametrics broke the news on Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla’s open letter on when the COVID-19 vaccine would readily be available.
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What they are saying
While noting that safety reviews will dictate the timeline, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring that at least half the people in the study be watched for side effects for two months, Bourla said that the milestone should be achieved in the third week of November.
Bourla wrote, “Let me be clear, assuming positive data, Pfizer will apply for emergency authorization used in the U.S. soon after the safety milestone is achieved. An initial readout on whether the vaccine is effective could come later this month, depending on how quickly subjects in the trial, some of whom got a placebo shot, become infected with the virus.”
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Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, further gave insights on prevailing fundamentals making headlines among global investors,
“Investor uncertainty is bristling ahead of an expected choppy period in terms of headline risk, where perhaps the most horrifying trouble of all is that the second wave of the coronavirus could trigger more intense lockdown fears.
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“The allure of the US stimulus deal is keeping the + 3500 (S&P 500 e-mini futures) dream alive.”
The focus of global investors is shifting to the highly anticipated US Presidential election, scheduled to hold in less than a month.
