S&P, Nasdaq close higher on vaccine hopes, improving data

Record ID: 1560227

  • Title: S&P, Nasdaq close higher on vaccine hopes, improving data
  • Date: 1st July 2020
  • Summary: MENDHAM, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (JULY 1, 2020) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGING PARTNER AT RUNNYMEDE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, ANDREW WANG, SAYING: "Every week we see some surprises, some of them have been positive. The expectation overall has been that the jobs have been concerning because we're looking at levels that I've never seen in my career, they're depression-like unemployment numbers. I think that as we see the economies reopening, jobs are returning, we have the enhanced unemployment expected to end later this month. So jobs are coming back, good in the service sector, but many of the businesses due to regulations in this very state, by state, businesses are not running at full capacity. So I think that we still expect to see some weakness."
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2020 21:04
  • Keywords: COVID-19 U.S. stocks Wall Street coronavirus reopening
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + MENDHAM, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + MENDHAM, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Economic Events,Equities Markets
  • Reuters ID: LVA002CKZB0W7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday (July 1) to kick off the third quarter as increasing optimism for a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine eased concerns that another round of business lockdowns was likely despite a climb in coronavirus cases in the United States.
    Pfizer Inc.'s shares rose more than 4% after the drugmaker said a COVID-19 vaccine being developed with German biotech firm BioNTech showed promise and was found to be well-tolerated in early-stage human trials.
    The gains put Pfizer among the top boosts to both the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials while U.S.-listed shares of BioNTech gained about 5%, helping improve the mood on Wall Street even as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase of 43,644 new cases of coronavirus.
    Investors were also encouraged by some upbeat economic data as coronavirus-induced lockdowns have eased. A report on Wednesday showed a slump in global manufacturing had ebbed in June, with U.S. figures hitting their highest level in more than a year.
    On Thursday, all eyes will be on the Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report.
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 77.91 points, or 0.3%, to 25,734.97, the S&P 500 gained 15.57 points, or 0.50%, to 3,115.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 95.86 points, or 0.95%, to 10,154.63.
    (Production by Fred Katayama, Hyeongmi Kim and Roselle Chen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register