Cruise, Travel Stocks Jump as Vaccine News Buoys Reopen Bets
Reopen Bets Rally as Cruise, Airline Stocks Jump on Vaccine Hope
(Bloomberg) -- News of a second highly effective vaccine against Covid-19 triggered a sharp rally in reopening beneficiaries as the promising results from Moderna Inc. built on momentum for an answer to the deadly disease.
Investors piled back into industries like cruiseliners, airlines and casinos after Moderna’s data sparked optimism that more vaccine options can help to quickly reopen the global economy. The second positive update in as many weeks fueled stocks that have been among the market’s worst performers -- the trio of big cruise stocks had shed between 47% and 69% of their value this year before Monday’s session.
Moderna jumped 12% to an intraday record as the so-called reopen trade helped lead U.S. stocks higher. Cruise companies including Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. all jumped in early trading Monday. The S&P 500 rose as much as 0.9%.
Moderna said its Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in a preliminary analysis of a large late-stage clinical trial. The progress report comes after vaccine results from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE a week ago showed 90% efficacy in stopping SARS-CoV-2 infections. Shares in Pfizer fell 4.1%, while BioNTech ADRs slumped 14%, the most since July.
“The initial market impact might be more cautious than after the Pfizer news given that it’s just ‘more of the same,’” said Stephen Innes, a strategist at Axicorp Ltd. “But the medium-term economic outlook should once again look better now, which in my view should support a sustained macro reassessment.”
Cruise, travel, tourism and entertainment shares were hit hard this year and face further losses as Covid-19’s resurgence in parts of the globe forces governments to impose further lockdown measures and travel restrictions. The prospect of effective vaccines is helping offset some of the potential declines, analysts said.
Carnival shares jumped as much as 10%, while Royal Caribbean advanced 8% and Norwegian rallied 9.8%. Airline stocks gained as well, with American Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. jumping at least 5.8%, while Southwest Airlines Co. and Delta Air Lines Inc. eyed similar gains.
Casino operators also rallied, with Wynn Resorts Ltd. jumping 6.7% and MGM Resorts International climbing 5.3%. The benefits also spread to theme-park operators and ride-sharing stocks like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.
McKesson Corp., the central distributor for most Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S., rallied as much as 2.6%. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and CVS Health Inc., which are partnered with the federal government to administer vaccines, climbed as well.
Industrial manufacturers like Carrier Global Corp. and Emerson Electric Co. -- which offer refrigeration solutions and temperature management systems -- can play a key role in any vaccine distribution effort. Carrier shares were up as much as 2.6% and Emerson rose 2.4%.
Lockdown Shares
Adding to the risk-on momentum was news that two of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisers said they favor targeted local measures to stem the pandemic and oppose a nationwide U.S. lockdown as too blunt.
“The big thing will be to see if it’s the same road map as we got last week, which was the massive disconnect with the Russell 2000 and some of the value names outperforming and the tech and the work-from-home stocks really underperforming to a degree we haven’t seen before in a number of years,” Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments Inc., said by phone.
In contrast, the news sent companies that have benefited from virus-induced lockdowns lower. Zoom Video Communications Inc. fell as much as 7.1% and Peloton Interactive Inc. dropped 4.9%.
Other companies that sell products to online consumers like Overstock.com Inc., Wayfair Inc., and Pinterest Inc. all fell more than 3.5%.
A handful of companies that have seen sales surge amid the insatiable need for Covid-19 tests slumped in early trading. Last week’s update from Pfizer and BioNTech wiped out more than $47 billion in market value across more than a dozen stocks that have sold tests.
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