KEY POINTS

  • Schwab acknowledged issues at around 10:00 a.m. ET
  • All major stock indices were in rally mode on vaccine hopes
  • Pfizer, BioNTech shares soar after vaccine announcement

While Wall Street saw big gains Monday on hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine, some traders were unable to capitalize on the bull run because of technical glitches.

Multinational financial services firm Charles Schwab Corp. said on Twitter that unspecified technical issues may be preventing some clients from logging onto its website. “We're working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” read a Schwab tweet posted at 10:05 a.m. ET.

Online outage website Downdetector.com found similar issues with logins for Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investment Services accounts, as well as for private payroll processor ADP. All of the issues saw spikes in outage reports late morning.

As of 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow was up 3.7%, the S&P 500 gained 2.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.1%. Similar trends were seen in major indices in the Asian and European markets.

A statement posted on Twitter from TD Ameritrade suggests heavy trading volume may have overwhelmed their system.

The Wall Street rally followed a joint announcement from Pfizer and German drugmaker BioNTech that its COVID-19 vaccine proved 90% effective in clinical trials. Pfizer said it would ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use approval as soon as possible.

Pfizer shares (PFE) gained 8% just before noon ET, while shares of BioNTech (BNTX) surged 13%.

Hopes for a virus vaccine have helped propel stock markets higher
Hopes for a virus vaccine have helped propel stock markets higher AFP / EVA HAMBACH
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