SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – As a COVID-19 vaccine gets closer to becoming a reality, the U.S. stock market is reacting positively.
Stocks around the world are surging after a burst of hope following encouraging data for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Wall Street surged on Monday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high.
This comes after the drug company, Pfizer, said its vaccine was 90 percent effective in protecting people against COVID-19. The Dow, which soared by 1,700 points in premarket trading, was a hair short of 30,000 in the minutes after the opening bell, for a gain of over 5 percent.
The S&P 500 rallied to a record high, surging by 3.6 percent. The Nasdaq gained 1.2 percent.
This comes as a successful vaccine gets closer to hitting the shelves. 22News spoke with Investment Advisor Mark Teed of Raymond James on how this recent news could boost the economy.
“What the vaccine does is it removes the uncertainty about what’s been going on with the economy. In one week we have taken away the two biggest things we’ve been worried about, the election and a vaccine so in one week it’s gone,” said Teed. “The market has been rallying. We’ve had a year’s worth of returns in the last six days of the market so it’s really extraordinary.”
If a vaccine for COVID-19 does pan out, analysts call it a “game-changer” and just what the market had been waiting for.
Teed said although it may still take a long time to get back to normal, it’s a step in the right direction for getting the economy moving again.
