US stocks, oil prices gain with second vaccine hope

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks and oil prices rose on Monday with a second successful COVID-19 vaccine candidate reinvigorating hopes that the global economy could return to normal sooner than expected.

The Dow Jones was up 264 points, or 0.9%, to 29,743 points at 09.55 a.m. EDT (1455 GMT), while the S&P 500 was up 19 points, or 0.55%, to 3,604 points.

The Nasdaq was up 37 points, or 0.3%, to 11,866 points, but companies that performed well during quarantine months, such as Netflix, Amazon and Zoom, were down.

Crude oil prices also rose with hopes that global oil demand would pick up once quarantine restrictions are lifted and national economies would start recovering once the vaccines begin to be distributed around the world.

Brent crude was trading at $44.19 per barrel and US' West Texas Intermediate was at $41.45 a barrel at the same time, each gaining more than 3%.

US oil majors ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips also saw their stock prices gaining between 3%-4%.

Yet, the uncertainty amid global recovery still remains strong as investors continue to take safer bets in precious metals, such as gold and silver, which gained their losses rapidly Monday despite the second vaccine development.

US biotech firm Moderna announced Monday its coronavirus vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective against COVID-19, and it remains stable at 2° to 8°C (36° to 46°F) temperature of a standard home or medical refrigerator for 30 days.

This becomes the second vaccine in a week after US drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech said last Monday their coronavirus vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective, although there were concerns about its storage with regard to temperature.

"Another Vaccine just announced ... For those great 'historians', please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!" US President Donald Trump said later on Twitter.

The president last Monday claimed that the announcement of first COVID-19 vaccine was deliberately withheld before the 2020 election.

"FDA and the Democrats didn’t want to have me get a Vaccine WIN, prior to the election, so instead it came out five days later – As I’ve said all along!" he wrote on Twitter.