Wednesday’s trading on Wall Street marked further progress in the development of an effective coronavirus vaccine or the return of Boeing 737 MAX to U.S. skies. But in the end, pessimism prevailed because of the worsening epidemic situation in the United States.
New reports on the development of an effective coronavirus vaccine have not helped US stocks either. Just two days after Moderna announced a vaccine with an efficacy of more than 94 percent, its competitor Pfizer topped it with data from the third phase of clinical trials of its vaccine. Pfizer reported 95 percent efficacy and no serious side effects. An American pharmaceutical company is developing the vaccine with the German company BioNTech.
Optimism in the markets was heeded by a decision by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that Boeing 737 MAX aircraft could be returned to the air after spending 20 months on the ground forcibly on the ground. The problem, however, is that the volume of air traffic has decreased rapidly due to the coronavirus, so the return of the 737 MAX is to some extent a Pyrrho victory.
That may have contributed to the declines in wall street’s main stock indexes late Wednesday trading. But the reversal of the trend was due to reports of worsening epidemics in the US and the adoption of other anti-epidemic measures, such as closing schools in New York. Wall Street ended about a percentage point weaker than on Tuesday.
