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Coronavirus vaccine news injects trillions in stock markets worldwide

WION
New DelhiEdited By: Gravitas deskUpdated: Nov 21, 2020, 09:26 AM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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The stocks of Pfizer soared too with Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla cashing out 60 per cent of his own Pfizer stock netting him $5.6 million.

After 11 months of suffering and more than a million deaths, It could be the beginning of the end to the pandemic. 

November has been a good month for vaccine makers and scientists. Pfizer and Biontech reported their results first. They had earlier claimed their vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective 
and after completing the final analysis the company says the vaccine is 95 per cent effective.

Meanwhile, US pharma giant Pfizer has moved US regulators to seek approvals for emergency use for its vaccines. Good news came from Russia too as makers of Sputnik V claimed their vaccine is 92 per cent effective.

The next results came from Moderna, it said the vaccine is 94.5 per cent effective. The markets have welcomed these developments with open arms. The vaccine makers have injected trillions of dollars into the stock markets this month.

The total value of equity markets around the world touched an all-time high with 95 trillion dollars pumped in. The vaccine news added more than one trillion dollars to the S&P 500 which is the American stock market index that measures the performance of 500 large companies in the US.

The Indian markets have registered significant gains in this period too. There was a sharp fall on Thursday but the larger sentiment remains positive. Stocks of vaccine makers are selling like hot cakes. The stock of bio-tech company Moderna has risen by 376 per cent. Pfizer's partner Biontech stocks rose 157 per cent.

It has been a dream run for Novavax which is another vaccine maker. In October, Novavax stock had jumped by a whopping 2,840 per cent with one share of Novavax valued at four dollars at the beginning of 2020, by October it was priced at 117 dollars and as of today it is dealing at around 86 dollars.

The stocks of Pfizer soared too with Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla cashing out 60 per cent of his own Pfizer stock netting him $5.6 million. It was however pre-arranged since Bourla had earlier expressed his intentions to sell his stock months in advance when the price hit a certain mark while this practice is considered controversial in America, it is legal to arrange such a trade in advance, it is not insider trading.

A vaccine is perhaps the only sure shot exit strategy for this pandemic without it the worldwide economic impact of the Wuhan virus could be $3.4 trillion a year which is why the success in vaccine development is being welcomed across all quarters.

It could be the beginning of the end but, there are still significant hurdles to cross. The data and claims of these companies need to be vetted and drug regulators will have to clear the vaccines first. 

There will be a limited roll out early on, it could take several months for the common man to get a vaccine but with each passing day we are getting one step closer to the shots.