By Jonathan Garber FOXBusiness
U.S. equity markets rallied to record highs Monday after a report said a COVID-19 vaccine could come before the November election and President Trump announced a “major breakthrough” in the fight against the virus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained as many as 234 points, or 0.84%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were higher by 0.85% and 1.33%, respectively, extending further into record territory.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 28197.47 | +267.14 | +0.96% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3422.93 | +25.77 | +0.76% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 11340.740502 | +28.94 | +0.26% |
The early gains came after a Financial Times report said AstraZeneca plc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine is being considered by Trump for fast-track designation in an effort to get an immunization to market ahead of the November election.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZN | ASTRAZENECA PLC | 56.56 | +0.85 | +1.53% |
The report added to investor enthusiasm that emerged on Sunday evening after Trump announced an emergency authorization to use convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients.
“This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection,” Trump said just over 24 hours before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Elsewhere on the vaccine front, Moderna Inc. announced enrollment for its Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial, expected to begin in September, crossed the 40% level.
Other drug makers producing COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE and Johnson & Johnson were also in focus.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRNA | MODERNA INC. | 64.52 | -1.93 | -2.90% |
| PFE | PFIZER INC. | 38.77 | -0.12 | -0.30% |
| BNTX | BIONTECH | 70.97 | -2.05 | -2.81% |
| JNJ | JOHNSON & JOHNSON | 151.23 | -0.52 | -0.34% |
Meanwhile, Apple Inc. surged to record highs as investors raced to beat Monday’s deadline to get in on the 4-for-1 split, which will take place at the close of business on Friday.
Tesla Inc. shares hit their own record high after Wedbush said they could hit $3,500 apiece in a bull-case scenario. The electric-car maker will split its stock 5-for-1 at Friday’s close.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 501.69 | +4.21 | +0.85% |
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 1,990.13 | -59.85 | -2.92% |
| BX | BLACKSTONE GROUP | 53.39 | +0.42 | +0.79% |
In mergers and acquisitions, private-equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. reached a deal to acquire the consumer health-care business of Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for 242 billion Japanese yen ($2.3 billion).
Looking at commodities, gold jumped $13.90 to $1,960.90 an ounce while West Texas Intermediate crude oil tacked on 45 cents to $42.79 a barrel as two storms forced production offline in the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. Treasurys were little change with the yield on the 10-year note holding near 0.64%.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX paced the advance, up 2.45%, while France’s CAC and Britain’s FTSE surged 2.31% and 1.91%, respectively.
Asian markets were higher across the board with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbing 1.74%, Japan’s Nikkei adding 0.28% and China’s Shanghai Composite edging up 0.14%.
