Airline stocks soar on Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough
Airline stocks soared this morning after US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer reported that early studies suggested its Covid-19 vaccine is 90 per cent effective.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are the first firms to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.
The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US emergency use authorisation later this month.
Shares in Easyjet jumped 30 per cent to 692.4p following the news, British Airways owner IAG’s share price was up 38.75 per cent at 143.75p and Ryanair’s stock rose 16.16 per cent to 15.49 per cent on hopes that a vaccine could enable international travel to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Budget airline Jet2 saw shares surge 34.1 per cent to 1,229p and Wizz Air’s share price rose 15.4 per cent to 4,226p.
Shares in online travel agent Onthebeach also soared more than 25 per cent and Tui’s stock rose 26.13 per cent to 403.6p.
Neil Wilson, chief markets analyst at Markets.com, said: “Whilst we are not there yet, news that this vaccine could be highly effective is the best thing markets could hope for.
“Public health officials will remind us there is a long road ahead, and many challenges will be faced along the way, but there is an enormous sense of optimism today – light at the end of the tunnel.
“Let’s just hope the vaccine deniers won’t get in the way, but 2021 just got a lot brighter.”
More to follow