Vaccine hopes drive stocks higher

NEW YORK/ LONDON:

Wall Street opened higher and the dollar slipped on Monday as rising hopes of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year offset concern over record daily infections in Europe.

US stocks rose in early trading, on the 33rd anniversary of the 1987 “Black Monday” crash, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 22.6% in one day.

Boosting overall sentiment, drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Friday it could have a coronavirus vaccine ready in the United States by the end of this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.24 points, or 0.10%, at the open to 28,633.55. The S&P 500 opened higher by 9.85 points, or 0.28%, at 3,493.66, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 60.78 points, or 0.52%, to 11,732.34 at the opening bell.

The European blue-chip stocks index was slightly positive even as new COVID-19 cases were growing at a record 150,000 a day in Europe.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2020.

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