Vaccine Approval Jabs Nasdaq To Record Close

Wall Street rallied on Monday, and the Nasdaq reached an all-time closing high as sentiment was boosted by full regulatory approval of a Covid-19 vaccine and market participants looked ahead to the Jackson Hole Symposium expected to convene later this week.

All three major US stock indexes ended the session sharply higher, with the S&P 500 in the session's final minutes just failing to hold what would have been a record-high close.

Surging crude prices, driven by expected demand growth, putting energy shares out front.

"This has been the script all along," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "We make new highs, pull back, and then we’re off to the races again."

"That tells me the fundamentals are in place," Cardillo added. "There’s worries out there, but it’s hard to keep this market down."

The US Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech in a move that could accelerate inoculations in the United States.

"Full approval means that there’s most likely going to be more mandates, more companies will mandate that you have to get the vaccine in order to get back to the office," Cardillo said. "I don’t think this will get all the doubters vaccinated but this news today will probably drive (the vaccinated rate) closer to 75 percent%."

Pfizer and US-listed shares of BioNTech advanced 2.5 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Rival Moderna gained 7.5 percent.

Data released on Monday painted a "Goldilocks" portrait of an economic recovery headed in the right direction, but not enough to warrant a change in the Federal Reserve's dovish monetary policy, which helped feed investor risk appetite.

Market participants look to the Jackson Hole Symposium, due to convene in Wyoming later this week. The comments of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be closely parsed for clues regarding the central bank's policy-tightening timeline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61 percent, to 35,336, the S&P 500 gained 0.85 percent, to 4,480 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.55 percent, to 14,943. (Reuters)