A pause in the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) covid-19 vaccine study sent a chill across the markets on Tuesday, dusting the European indices in red.
Though a pause in a trial – this time due to ‘an unexplained illness in a study participant’ – isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, it still dealt a blow to the market’s faint, naïve hopes of a vaccine arriving this side of Christmas.
The DAX dipped below 13,100 as it fell 0.4%, with the CAC returning to 4950 following a 0.6% drop.
The FTSE shed half a percent, taking it back under 6000, with the FTSE 250 also down 0.7%. The UK was also dealing with its latest jobs report, one that saw far better than forecast jobless claims and wage growth readings – at 28.k and 0.0% respectively – take the edge off a rise in the unemployment rate.
Climbing from 4.1% to 4.5%, jumping past the estimated 4.3% in the process, these are the early signs of what is likely to be the overwhelming trend in the coming months. And remember, this reading covers the June to August period. We’re not yet seeing numbers from the post-furlough era.
As for the Dow Jones, after rising 250 points last night it is heading for a 70 points drop this afternoon. The index now has 2 hopes regarding stimulus: either a bipartisan agreement is reached on a package, or Joe Biden sweeps the vote and pushes through a larger bill. The less likely the former looks, the more important election polling could become in the next few weeks.
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