Monday’s Stock Market Close: US Equities Move Higher On Promising Vaccines, Amazon Boosts Nasdaq

U.S. stocks climbed higher on Monday as traders celebrated some promising developments on a vaccine for COVID-19 while cheering on a big merger in the energy sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.92 points to 26,680.87, while the S&P 500 climbed 27.11 points to 3,251.84 and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 263.9 points to 10,767.09.

Monday’s volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 3.46 billion shares with 1,323 issues advancing, 113 setting new highs, and 1,674 declining, with ten stocks setting a new low .

Active movers were led by iBio Inc. (IBIO), Heat Biologics Inc. (HTBX) and NIO Inc. (NIO).

Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) of Germany reported some positive results on a joint coronavirus vaccine candidate. Another vaccine candidate from Oxford University and AstraZeneca (AZN) exhibited a positive immune response in an early trial.

Amazon (AMZN) jumped 7.93% after an analyst at Goldman Sachs boosted his price target on the stock to $3,800 per share.

European Union leaders have yet to reach a deal on a 750-billion-euro ($858 billion) COVID-19 recovery fund as a meeting stretched into a fourth day in Brussels on Monday.

Chevron (CVX) said it agreed to buy Noble Energy (NBL) in an all-stock transaction valued at $5 billion.

Florida reported another surge in COVID-19 infections.

“The residents here [in Florida] are terrified and I’m terrified, for the first time in my career because there’s a lack of leadership,” said Democratic Florida Rep. Donna Shalala. “It’s terrible. We have community spread, which means the virus is out of control.

Shalala added: “We need to close down in Florida. Our economy will not come back until we meet this virus at its head and bring it down.”

The U.S. now has at least 3.66 million COVID-19 cases, the highest figure in the world, with nearly 140,000 deaths.

Some traders are hoping lawmakers come up with another large stimulus package.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the size and shape of the next bill, particularly on the consumer side,” said Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist at Jefferies. “We believe consensus expects a roughly $1-$1.5 [trillion] package, so if the draft comes in on the high-end of that range, it would be seen as a positive surprise. In light of the deteriorating growth momentum, it is highly unlikely that Republicans under-deliver, which means that risks are skewed to the high side.”

Overnight in Asia markets finished mixed, as China’s Shanghai Composite index jumped 3.11%; Japan’s Nikkei-225 edged up 0.09%; and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Exchange slipped 0.12%.

In Europe markets finished mixed, as Britain’s FTSE-100 slipped 0.46%, while France’s CAC-40 rose 0.47% and Germany’s DAX climbed 0.99%.

Crude oil futures rose 0.27% at $40.70 per barrel, Brent crude slipped 0.18% at $43.20. Gold futures rose 0.48%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 1.27% to 0.62% while yield on the 30-year Treasury slipped 0.75% to 1.319%.