It took a while for the day to heat up, but yesterday’s Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) vaccine headlines were just so good that the markets couldn’t help but indulge in another round of gains.
The FTSE was among the indices leading the charge. Rising 1.5%, it hit levels last seen at the end of July, as investors rushed into those sectors that have been most hit by the pandemic, scrabbling around in the search for value.
This was especially true of anything travel-related, with a 14% surge for aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) and a 6.5% jump from British Airways-owner IAG (LON:ICAG).
Croda International, meanwhile, climbed 6.6% after it was revealed that the chemicals firm will supply ‘novel excipients’ to Pfizer during the manufacturing of the vaccine.
Over in the FTSE 250, Cineworld Group (LON:CINE), which was riddled with bullet holes after the James Bond No Time to Die delay, rose 17.5% on hopes that the chain will be able to nudge back towards normalcy once a vaccine starts to rollout.
There were losers, however. Ocado (LON:OCDO), one of the major benefactors of the pandemic, dipped 3.5%, investors assuming it will shed users as people return to their pre-covid-19 habits.
That’s if they return to their pre-covid-19 habits, mind. Though companies like Ocado and Zoom – which was down a further 9% this Tuesday – may initially struggle to match their pandemic performances, they have inserted themselves into our lives in ways that won’t necessarily be wholly reversed.
Matching the FTSE’s growth was the CAC, jumping 1.6% to 5420. The DAX, however, lagged behind with just a 0.3% increase after German ZEW economic sentiment suffered a worse than forecast drop-off month-on-month.
Like the DAX, the Dow Jones failed to indulge in the kinds of growth managed by the FTSE and CAC. Adding 0.3%, crossing 29,250 in doing so, the index showed some signs of wariness over the election aftermath, and the various challenges – legal and otherwise – Trump is going to produce in the coming weeks.
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