Global markets are on the rise Thursday on news of a potential effective vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
European markets are continuing to make gains in mid-morning trading — the FTSE in London is up 0.8%, Paris’s CAC-40 index is up 1.4%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt is 1.6% higher.
Asian markets posted a clean sweep of gains to begin the trading day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished 0.1% higher, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong earned 2.7% and the Shanghai Composite closed 2.1% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX index was 1.6% higher, the KOSPI index in South Korea closed up 1.3%, and Taiwan’s TSEC index rose 0.8%. The Sensex in Mumbai is up 1.2% in late afternoon trading.
Investors were optimistic after U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNtech said preliminary data from early-stage human trials of a new vaccine showed promise.
Oil markets are also trading well Thursday. U.S. crude is selling at $40.05 per barrel, up 0.5%, while Brent crude, the global benchmark, is selling at $42.29 per barrel, up 0.6%.
All three U.S. indexes are trending positively in futures trading ahead of Thursday’s announcement of the latest U.S. unemployment figures.
