Foreign Affairs

Global Stocks Rise After AstraZeneca Vaccine Announcement

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Stocks in the United States and around the world rose Monday in response to AstraZeneca’s vaccine announcement, increasing the chance that vaccines may begin to be distributed before the year’s end.

AstraZeneca’s announcement that its vaccine was up to 90% effective made it the third company whose vaccine has reached the threshold.

On Wall Street, the future for the S&P 500 index is up 0.82% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.90%, reversing slight declines last week due to skyrocketing case counts.

European indexes rose as well, with the DAX in Germany rising 0.5% and the CAC in France rising 0.4%, while the FTSE in the U.K. remained flat, according to the Associated Press.

Performance this year:

Bitcoin: +160%
NASDAQ: +32%
Gold: +21%
S&P 500: +10%
Nikkei: +8%
Russell 2000: +7%
Dow Jones: +3%
TSX: -0.3%
Hang Seng: -6%
CAC 40: -8%
FTSE 100: -16%
Oil: -31%

— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) November 23, 2020

Despite the good news in financial markets, investors in the U.S. remained uneasy over the lack of a federal stimulus in response to the pandemic. Congress has been unable to compromise for months in order to reach a deal, and last week Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he was withdrawing emergency loans for small businesses.

Markets have also reacted to President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden and formally begin the transition process, which has prevented the former vice president from receiving government briefs on the pandemic and other national security issues, according to the AP.