Wall Street indexes opened the week in red territory but were still set to close the month of November at record-high levels as news on the progress for the potential approval of a COVID-19 vaccine took center stage.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.1% and the S&P 500 Index slipped 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.5%.
Shares of Moderna popped 17% as the biotech company said it plans to file for US and European emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate today, following a late-stage study that showed efficacy against the virus was 94.1%. In addition, the primary analysis showed 100% success in preventing severe COVID-19, the biotech company said, adding that its mRNA-1273 vaccine continues to be generally well-tolerated with no serious safety concerns identified. The US Food and Drug Administration expects to hold a meeting to review mRNA-1273 on December 17.
Meanwhile, Novavax spiked 16% even as the drugmaker further delayed the start of the US late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine. In an update on the Phase 3 trials of NVX-CoV2373, its vaccine candidate, the company said that it will roll out the pivotal clinical trial in the US and Mexico in the coming weeks. The trial, which is set to enroll up to 30,000 participants, was expected to begin at the end of November, after already being delayed before.
In deal news, Nikola tanked almost 25% after GM pulled out from an earlier deal to take an 11% stake in the company as part of a partnership to build electric pickup trucks. According to the new transaction terms, GM signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Nikola for a global supply agreement to provide its Hydrotec fuel cell system for the electric truck start-up’s class 7/8 semi-trucks. GM fell 2%.
Slack Technologies rose almost 4% amid a CNBC report that the cloud-based software company Salesforce is expected to announce a deal to buy the messaging app as early as Tuesday after the market close. Salesforce lost almost 4%. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the takeover talks last week. Any deal, if it were to be successful, would likely value Slack at more than its market capitalization prior to the WSJ report of about $17 billion.
IHS Market led gains on the benchmark S&P 500 Index. The stock jumped more than 7% after S&P Global agreed to snap up the financial information provider in a $44 billion transaction, including $4.8 billion of net debt. Upon completion of the deal, current S&P Global shareholders will own about 67.75% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, while IHS Markit shareholders will own about 32.25%.
Aegon NV advanced 2% after announcing the sale of its Central and Eastern European business to Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG) for €830 million ($993 million). According to the insurer, it will divest its insurance, pension and asset management business in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey, as it seeks to raise capital to improve its cash position, with the sale proceeds set to increase its financial flexibility to execute on its strategic priorities.
Energy giant Exxon Mobil dropped more than 4% as the Australian Financial Review reported that the company has called off the sale of its oil and gas assets in the Bass Strait in Australia. The company had placed the Bass Strait assets for a potential sale last year. However, weak energy demand amid the pandemic seems to have impacted the value of the assets. The Australian Financial Review indicated that Exxon canceled the divestment due to the absence of attractive bids.
Last, but not least, Apple pushed 2% higher after Morgan Stanley ramped up the stock’s bull case price target to $191 from $171. “Our conviction in the AAPL bull case is rising with iPhone 12 Pro lead times at record levels, upward revisions to supply chain forecasts, and US carriers noting strong initial demand. Our AlphaWise consumer survey outlines a bull case that is much higher than we previously thought, with iPhone upgrades expected to outperform other vendors and our past surveys correlating to future growth,” Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty commented.
