Dow jumps 900 points after promising coronavirus vaccine trial

Fearless Girl statue outside the U.S. stock exchange wears a mask.

(Image credit: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

published 18 May 2020

Some good news has sent the stock market soaring for the first time in months.

After biotechnology company Moderna announced positive results in its COVID-19 vaccine trial, stocks in the company jumped up more than 19 percent. That helped send the Nasdaq Composite up 2.4 percent for the day, while the S&P 500 rose 3.1 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 3.8 percent.

An early stage trial of Moderna's vaccine produced COVID-19 antibodies in eight patients, the company announced Monday, not long after one of one of its directors stepped down to lead the U.S. government's vaccine development program. New York and California also announced Monday they are moving toward reopening businesses more quickly than expected, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested over the weekend that the central bank may inject the economy with more stimulus funds. It all added up to a "triple whammy of good news," David Rosenberg, chief economist of Rosenberg Research, told The Washington Post.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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