Stocks Jumped at Open on Coronavirus Vaccine Hope

U.S. stocks jumped at open on Monday after the Food and Drug Administration granted “fast track” status to two coronavirus vaccine candidates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 179.98 points, or 0.69%, to 26,255.28. The S&P 500 added 22.68 points, or 0.71%, to 3,207.72. The Nasdaq Composite gained 136.67 points, or 1.29%, to 10,754.12.

Oil futures fell Monday as major oil-producing countries were said to consider easing output curbs as global crude demand rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery fell 75 cents, or 1.9%, to $39.80 a barrel. September Brent crude was off 68 cents, or 1.6%, at $42.56 a barrel.

Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech SE (BNTX) announced that two of the companies’ four investigational vaccine candidates received the designation from the US Food and Drug Administration, which is intended to speed up both the development and review of new drugs and vaccines.