U.S. Stocks Set To Open Higher On Vaccine Hopes

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Promising Results In Phase 1 Trial

Moderna shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading as the company’s vaccine for coronavirus produced antibodies in all patients that participated in the current phase 1 trial.

Other vaccine-related stocks are also gaining ground during the premarket session. Pfizer is up about 1.5% while BioNTech SE is gaining about 4%.

As the coronavirus situation in the world gets worse day by day, market participants realize that an effective vaccine is the only way to get back to normal life and business.

Therefore, any positive news on the vaccine front boost stocks. Not surprisingly, S&P 500 futures are gaining ground in premarket trading and stocks look ready to test multi-month highs.

U.S. Ends Preferential Treatment Of Hong Kong

Meanwhile, U.S. – China tensions continue to increase. U.S. President Donald Trump revoked Hong Kong’s special status due to the implementation of a new national security law.

This move means that Hong Kong will no longer get special economic terms and will not have access to certain technologies.

In turn, China promised to impose sanctions on U.S. individuals and entities. At this point, the details of these sanctions are not known.

The deterioration of U.S. – China relations continues as countries start to implement various measures against each other on a weekly basis. For now, the market ignores the risks of a new round of trade war between U.S. and China because it is preoccupied with coronavirus.

Oil Will Likely Try To Break Out Of The Current Range

Oil has been stuck near the $40 level for many trading sessions. It made several attempts to settle below this level but these attempts were met with increased buying activity.

Yesterday, API Crude Oil Stock Change report showed that crude inventories decreased by 8.32 million barrels. If this data is confirmed by today’s EIA Weekly Petroleum Status report, oil will likely try to get above the nearest resistance at $41.50 and continue the upside move.

This scenario will be bullish for oil-related equities which have been struggling to develop upside momentum since mid-June. In addition, an upside move in the oil market will help S&P 500 get to new highs.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.