By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Travel and leisure stocks were outperforming in the UK on Tuesday after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech's (NASDAQ:BNTX) Covid vaccination. It is the first jab to be fully licenced after previously receiving Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
Full approval
Approval of the vaccine is expected to lead to greater take-up amongst US citizens. A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 31% of unvaccinated people said they were more likely to get vaccinated if the FDA gave full approval to vaccines, according to Bloomberg News.
Separately, many companies and organisations are expected to introduce vaccine mandates. The US military set this off, saying they would require all 1.3 million active-duty troops to get vaccinated.
Travel & Leisure shares jump
Shares in Travel & Leisure stocks jumped following the news. Cineworld (LON:CINE) - which has operations in the US - saw its shares rally as greater vaccination take up in the US may encourage cinemagoers to return to screens. Earlier this month, Cineworld had said there could be “no certainty” over its recovery from the pandemic in the short-term as revenue declined 59% in the first half of the year.
Airlines were also strong, with EasyJet (LON:EZJ), Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ), Ryanair (LON:RYA), and IAG (LON:ICAG) all trading higher. Carnival (NYSE:CCL) (LON:CCL), which is dual listed in the UK and US, also reacted positively to the news. Its US listed shares closed higher by just shy of 4% on Monday, while its London listing jumped over 3% in early trade on Tuesday.