American stock market started the previous week with positive dynamics.
The main driver was test data from Pfizer and BioNTech, which showed that the vaccine they are developing against COVID-19 is effective in more than 90% of cases. The companies also said that so far no major safety issues have been identified and that they expect to apply for an emergency vaccine authorization in the United States in late November. US chief infectious disease specialist and White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci praised the results of pharmaceutical companies and said that Moderna, which is also developing a vaccine, could get similar results. The news sparked a spike in stocks in the companies hit hardest by travel bans and quarantine restrictions: Boeing Co. (BA) rose 13.53%, while airline and cruise line shares were up 20-30%.
On Tuesday trading ended in the "red zone" due to the sale of shares of large IT companies, which suffered the least during the pandemic. The stocks of Amazon.com (AMZN), Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT), whose businesses have benefited from companies moving to remote work amid the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, continued to lose value, putting pressure on the high-tech Nasdaq index. Shares of companies selling secondary consumer goods and providing communication services also came under pressure. In contrast, shares in sectors that are expected to benefit from a full economic recovery, such as energy and manufacturing, have risen in value.
The next day optimism about the global economic recovery was the main reason for the rise in US stock indices. The trend of the previous day changed and investors, wanting to take profits, began buying up the fallen shares of large technology companies.
Major US stocks were down moderately Thursday as the continuing rise in global coronavirus cases paused a rally fueled by encouraging news from Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) about a coronavirus vaccine they are developing earlier this week. According to Johns Hopkins University, on Wednesday, the United States set a new record for the incidence of coronavirus - 143,231 new infections per day. COVID-19 cases also continued to grow rapidly in Europe; France has become the new “hot spot” of the region. In general, the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in the world has grown to 52,331,462 and the number of deaths to 1,287,96. It is expected that with the approach of winter, the situation may worsen. Meanwhile, the most optimistic projections suggest that it will take at least several months for any workable vaccine to be produced and distributed by regulators. As a result, in the short term, the most effective way to contain the pandemic is the introduction of new restrictions, which are expected to halt the global economic recovery.
The week ended with a noticeable increase. The stock market was supported by better-than-expected quarterly results from Cisco (CSCO) and Walt Disney (DIS). Market participants also analyzed mixed macro data. A Labor Department report showed that US producer prices rose 0.3% in October after rising 0.4% in September. Economists expected prices to rise 0.2%. In turn, the University of Michigan released a report showing that the consumer sentiment index fell to 77.0 in November after rising to a seven-month high of 81.8 in October. The index was expected to rise to 82.0.
