Stockmarkets remain unimpressed by news of the latest vaccine

Stockmarkets went mad on news of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, but a similar update from AstraZeneca brought little more than a shrug.

New York © 
New York closed its schools last week, denting confidence on Wall Street
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

“Bored already”, says Alistair Osborne in The Times. Equity markets were overjoyed when positive news of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine trials broke earlier this month. But a similar update from AstraZeneca this week brought little more than a shrug. Global stockmarkets didn’t leap, but they have continued to trade close to recent highs. The MSCI World Index is up by 10% since the start of the month, with America’s S&P 500 up by 9%. The FTSE 100 has been a standout performer, gaining 15% in November, although British blue chips are still down by 15% for the year to date. Bulls have gone rampaging through bitcoin and oil markets.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.