The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Wednesday as rising hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine offset fears of another round of lockdowns following a record surge in coronavirus cases in the United States.
A Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech firm BioNTech showed promise and was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trial, the companies said.
Pfizer's shares rose 4.8% on the news, one of the biggest boost to the S&P 500 index, while BioNTech gained 3%, helping improve the mood on Wall Street after the United States registered 47,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday,