{"id":293472,"date":"2020-12-04T02:29:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gomarketingteam.com\/articles\/first-vaccine-approval-opec-deal-brexit-us-stimulus-hopes\/"},"modified":"2021-02-19T12:13:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T01:13:05","slug":"first-vaccine-approval-opec-deal-brexit-us-stimulus-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gomarkets.com\/en\/weekly-summaries\/first-vaccine-approval-opec-deal-brexit-us-stimulus-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"First vaccine approval, OPEC deal , Brexit & US stimulus hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Deepta Bolaky<\/strong>
\n\u00a0@DeeptaGOMarkets<\/a><\/p>\n

After a month-long rally in November which drove major equity indexes to record-highs, investors started the last month of the year with controversial vaccine approval and supply-chain issues. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Stock market – Vaccine updates<\/b><\/h4>\n

Global equities swung between losses and gains and major equity indices retreated from record highs as investors digested vaccine updates, stimulus talks and Brexit related news. In this devastating pandemic, investors welcomed the news of the first authorisation of a vaccine for COVID-19 despite the controversies around a hasty approval<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Moderna<\/b> announced that the primary efficacy analysis of the Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273 conducted on 196 cases confirms the high efficacy observed at the first interim analysis. The data analysis indicates a vaccine efficacy of <\/span>94.1%<\/b>. Moderna requested clearance from the US and Europe regulators on Monday and the Company is expecting the VRBPAC meeting for mRNA-1273 likely on <\/span>December 17, 2020.<\/b><\/p>\n

Novavax,<\/b> the biotechnology company carrying the COVID-19 vaccine program in the UK completed enrollment of 15,000 participants in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial being conducted in the U.K. to determine efficacy and safety of NVX-CoV2373.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, Pfizer and BioNtech received their first authorisation from the UK regulator. <\/b>The MHRA authorizes supply of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency supply under Regulation 174; Companies are ready to deliver the first doses to the U.K. immediately. The companies previously signed an agreement to supply a total of 40 million doses to the U.K. with delivery in 2020 and 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UK index rallied on the vaccine approval as The UK is officially the first country in the world to provide its approval for a COVID-19 vaccine which will likely be made available to care home staff and residents within the next couple of days. As of writing, the index has climbed by more than 3% since the beginning of the week and is trading at 6,463.20 pts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the global stock market traded mixed following headlines that Pfizer is facing supply-chain issues and would only be in a position to deliver half of 2020 supplies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forex Market<\/b><\/h4>\n

In the forex market, the G10 currencies remained stronger than the US dollar. Major currencies pairs climbed to fresh 2020 highs mostly on the back of the dollar weakness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg<\/p>\n

US Dollar drop<\/b><\/h5>\n

The US dollar continues to struggle against its peers this week following fresh daily records on the virus front, mixed economic data, and on-and-off stimulus talks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the economic front, investors digested the mixed data against the back-and-forth on stimulus. A timely relief package may help the US to avoid more economic grief in the coming months.<\/span><\/p>\n