Oil prices soared and pushed up energy stocks while safe-haven U.S. Treasuries sold off after U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said a large-scale trial of their vaccine showed it was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19. Saturday’s news that Joe Biden had won the U.S. presidential election was also a reassuring confirmation of what investors had already been counting on by the end of last week, according to market strategists.
Sectors such as energy, travel and financials which were among the hardest hit by lockdowns aimed at curbing the virus were some of the biggest percentage gainers on Monday. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 839.61 points, or 2.96 per cent, to 29,163.01, the S&P 500 gained 44.25 points, or 1.26 per cent, to 3,553.69 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 162.91 points, or 1.37 per cent, to 11,732.32.
Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc declined while Zoom Video and exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Inc tumbled to limit the Nasdaq’s advance.