Europe midday: Stocks soar on Pfizer Covid vaccine news

European shares soared on news that Pfizer and BioNTech said their Covid-19 vaccine candidate prevented more than 90% of infections in a study of tens of thousands of volunteers, paving the way for emergency use.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index had gained 4% on the news after an already strong start to the session driven by Joe Biden’s victory in the US Presidential election. All other European bourses shot higher on the news, while Dow futures were up 1,500 points.

Pfizer said the findings were based on analysis conducted after 94 participants contracted Covid-19. The trial will continue until 164 cases occur.

If the success rate holds up and safety results are positive the companies will apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorisation. Pfizer said no serious safety concerns had been observed in the study of 43,538 participants.

The news sparked turnarounds in the fortunes of those stocks that have both been hammered by, and benefited from, the impact of the pandemic.

Travel and leisure industry-related stocks took off on hopes a vaccine would see a return to international travel, with budget airline easyJet up 30% at one point. TUI, Carnival, Lufthansa and Trainline all followed suit.

French shopping mall owner Klepierre gained 35%, along with the UK’s Hammerson, up 25%.

On the flip side, food delivery stocks were suddenly out of favour, with HelloFresh down almost 12%, Ocado off 8.26% and Just Eat Takeaway.com down 4.4%.