Wall Street rallies on Covid-19 vaccine hopes & promise of more Fed cash injections

US stocks surged at the opening bell on Monday boosted by news from drug maker Moderna about a potential coronavirus vaccine and the promise of more fiscal and monetary stimulus to support the US economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot 800 points, or over three percent, higher. The S&P 500 of America’s top-500 corporations rose three percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.5 percent. Commodities were also soaring on Monday, with US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate gaining nearly 12 percent to $33 per barrel.

The stock rise comes as Moderna reported encouraging results from the human safety trial of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. The company said that after two doses, all 45 trial participants had developed coronavirus antibodies. Moderna’s stock soared 30 percent at the open.

In an interview with CBS on Sunday night, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the US central bank and Congress might need to give more support to the American economy through the coronavirus recession. 

“We’ve done what we can as we go. But I will say that we’re not out of ammunition by a long shot. No, there’s really no limit to what we can do with these lending programs that we have,” Powell said.

He added that he is “highly confident” the nation’s economy will claw its way back from the current crisis, warning that it may not fully recover until a coronavirus vaccine is developed.

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