Global markets roar on promising vaccine news

Dow Jones industrial average futures were calling for a more than 500-point, or 1.5 percent jolt at opening bell Monday in response to the news, while S&P futures were poised to gain 1 percent. European markets advanced in mid-day trading, led by France’s CAC 40, which gained more than 2.2 percent.

“With Moderna reporting such positive results, investors have another piece of the puzzle on how we will solve the current health crisis,” Wayne Wicker, chief investment officer at Vantagepoint Funds, said in an email to The Washington Post. “While the next few months may contain some tragic statistics associated with Covid 19, investors are looking forward 9-18 months with a vision that we will be returning to a more normal environment.”

The promising vaccine news comes as the U.S. braces for what many expect to be the darkest period of the pandemic. The total number of U.S. coronavirus cases reported to date surpassed 11 million on Sunday, only one week after hitting the 10 million mark. The number of fatalities from the virus now stands at more than 245,000.

Moderna’s stock soared more than 13.5 percent in early trading, and investors flocked back to companies whose stocks have been heavily battered by the pandemic, especially in travel and hospitality. Carnival cruises climbed 9 percent, while United Airlines rose 10 percent.

“Energy stocks and travel & leisure stocks will be the first benefactors on this news as they have been some of the hardest hit sectors due to distancing and shutdowns,” Anthony Denier, chief executive of the app-based brokerage Webull, said in comments emailed to The Post. “We will also see a rotation out of the stay at home winners like tech and media as portfolios start to rebalance for a re-opened economy.”

Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was one of three people briefed on the Moderna data by an independent committee Sunday morning, called the results “as good as it gets.” He predicted some doses could be available for high-risk people before the end of 2020 and become widely available in the spring.

Unlike Pfizer, which invested $2 billion of its own money in researching and developing a vaccine, Moderna is part of Operation Warp Speed, the government initiative designed to erase the financial risk of vaccine and therapeutics development by providing upfront funding to companies and helping coordinate the trials. Moderna received $2.5 billion from the U.S. government to support research, development and manufacturing of its vaccine candidate, while Pfizer signed a contract to sell doses to the U.S. government.

Hopes of an accelerated return to normalcy fueled higher risk appetites on Wall Street. Gold, a safe-haven for investors in uncertain times, edged down .6 percent to trade at $1,874 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note edged higher to .911 percent. Bond yields rise as prices drop.

Asian markets soared Monday after China and Japan joined forces with more than a dozen economies in region to sign the world’s largest trade deal, covering about 30 percent of the global population and a similar share of economic output, after eight years of negotiations. It is the second major trade pact in two years that excludes the United States.

Oil markets also rose Monday amid the optimism. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading up 3.2 percent at $44.14 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. oil benchmark, rose 3.7 percent to trade at $41.60 per barrel.