Markets Open Mixed Monday Morning; AstraZeneca Reveals COVID-19 Vaccine Data While Moderna Gets Downgraded
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented uncertainty in the financial markets, and Monday morning's market moves showed the impact that's having on market participants. Investors continue to see wide disparities in the way different stocks are moving, with growth-oriented companies in favor while old-economy cyclical giants have lagged. Just before 11 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was down 65 points to 26,607. However, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) rose 9 points to 3,233, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) climbed 115 points to 10,618.
Trying to find a viable vaccine against the coronavirus has become the highest priority among pharmaceutical and biotech companies. That's created a competitive environment in which one company's success can have ripple effects across the sector. Today, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) released its latest trial data on its candidate vaccine. Yet where investors felt the brunt of that news was in shares of Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), which fell in part because of the competition and in part because of negative views from stock analysts.
Shares of AstraZeneca were down about 2% late Monday morning. The stock had been up as much as 6% earlier in the session, but it's still anyone's guess whether multiple companies will be able to develop vaccines to fight COVID-19.
Source Fool.com
