[New York Close] Stocks and Oil Rise, Gold Falls on COVID-19 Vaccine News

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Expectations for the development of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine lifted the New York stock market. International oil prices also surged significantly, recovering to the $30 range.

On the 18th (local time) at the New York stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 911.95 points (3.85%) to close at 24,597.37, the S&P 500 index increased by 90.21 points (3.15%) to 2,953.91, and the Nasdaq index gained 220.27 points (2.44%) to finish at 9,234.83.

On this day, the Dow and S&P 500 widened their gains compared to the Nasdaq. While the Nasdaq had been strong due to expectations of benefits for tech stocks amid COVID-19, the rising hopes for vaccine development brought renewed optimism to traditional companies' stock prices.

On this day, Moderna announced that in its Phase 1 clinical trial for its vaccine candidate (mRNA-1273), all 45 participants developed antibodies against COVID-19. This news brought a positive breeze to the U.S. stock market. Moderna's stock surged nearly 30% intraday.

A vaccine is an essential condition for early economic normalization. The day before, Jerome Powell, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), also expressed concerns that without a vaccine, economic recovery could be delayed until the end of next year.

International gold prices fell by over 1%, reflecting how vaccine development hopes lowered the value of safe-haven assets. On this day at the New York Mercantile Exchange, June delivery gold closed at $1,734.40 per ounce, down 1.3% ($21.90) from the previous trading day.

Oil prices continued their surge. June delivery West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil soared 8.1% to $31.83 per barrel, just one day before expiration. The recovery of WTI above $30 is the first in over two months. This is a completely different picture from the unprecedented negative price (-$37) recorded one day before the May WTI contract expiration. The international benchmark Brent crude also rose over 7%, trading around the $35 level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.