Christopher BarrettGlobal financial markets have rallied, with companies hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic leading the charge, following news of the development of a ‘milestone’ vaccine offering 90% protection against the virus.
Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s biggest promoter and owner of Ticketmaster, saw its share price rise by more than 22% by 10.30am EST today, 9 November, while pan European ticketing giant CTS Eventim was up 23%.
Events company Informa, which soared by 44%, was among the FTSE 100’s the biggest winners, while shares in Cineworld, the world’s largest cinema chain, were up 39%, and British Airways gained 39%.
The vaccine developers – Pfizer and BioNTech – were quoted in news reports as describing Monday 9 November as a “great day for science and humanity”. Their vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised reportedly.
Among the companies to experience falls were operations that had previously benefited from the pandemic, including grocery delivery group Ocado (down 14%) and videoconferencing service Zoom (down 16%).