S&P 500 falls slightly from a record on coronavirus vaccine concerns
The S&P 500 fell marginally from a record high in a late-day sell-off on Thursday after a report said Pfizer is dialing back its coronavirus vaccine rollout plan for this year due to supply chain issues.
The broad equity benchmark dipped just 2.29 points, or less than 0.1%, to 3,666.72 after hitting an all-time high earlier in the session. The S&P 500 closed at a record for a second day in a row on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 85.73 points, or 0.3%, to 29,969.52. Earlier in the day, the blue-chip average rose more than 200 points amid a pop in Boeing shares. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%, or 27.82 points, to 12,377.18.
Major averages cut gains quickly in the final hour of trading after Dow Jones reported Pfizer now expects to ship half of the doses it had previously planned this year after finding raw materials in early production that didn’t meet its standard.
But the sell-off was relatively mild as the report also said Pfizer and BioNtech are now on track to roll out 1.3 billion vaccines in 2021 and the 50 million dose shortfall this year will be covered as production ramps up. Shares of Pfizer dropped 1.7% following the news.
Still the report raised concerns from investors that maybe the stock market’s recent run to records is pricing in a too-perfect rollout of Covid vaccines the next 12 months.
The Labor Department is set to release its closely watched jobs report for November on Friday. The U.S. economy is expected to have added 440,000 jobs, a slowdown from 638,000 in October, according to Dow Jones.
Reference: CNBC
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