By Julien Ponthus
LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in banks and in the travel and leisure industries surged 10% or more on Monday after Pfizer <PFE.N> announced that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, prompting a major rally in bourses across the world.
Sectors which had been the most hit by lockdowns, travel restrictions and social distancing introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19 made spectacular moves as traders rushed to price what could be a game changer for markets after months of being roiled by the pandemic.
Europe’s banking index <.SX7P> made its biggest one-day jump since the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011, gaining 10.9%. French banks Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> led the way, up 18% and 14.5% respectively.
On Wall Street, JP Morgan <JPM.N>, Bank of America <BAC.N> and Goldman Sachs <GS.N> were all up between 4% and 8% in pre-market trading.
“Let’s just hope the vaccine deniers won’t get in the way, but 2021 just got a lot brighter,” said Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets.com in London.
European airlines, hard hit by travel restrictions induced by the pandemic, rallied hard, with BA owner IAG <ICAG.L>, rising close to 40%.
Earlier, Britain’s transport minister Grant Shapps told an online airport industry conference that Britain was making “good progress” with a plan to allow COVID-19 tests to shorten a 14-day quarantine period for those returning from abroad, a change that could help fuel a recover in travel.
U.S. airlines, United <UAL.O> and American <AAL.O> jumped more than 20% in premarket trading.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which was already up after Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, jumped 4.5% to the highest since March. Futures tracking the S&P 500 jumped 4% to record highs, while Nasdaq futures turned negative.
Nasdaq 100 <.NDX> is home to the world’s biggest technology stocks, such as Netflix <NFLX.O>, Amazon <AMZN.O>, Apple <AAPL.O> and most of the companies that benefited from consumers sheltering in place across the world.
A similar trend was observed in Germany with shares in Hellofresh <HFGG.DE>, a clear winner from the lockdowns, among the few stocks losing ground with a 6.4% retreat.
(Reporting by Julien Ponthus, editing by Huw Jones)
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