Pfizer (
PFE
) and its German partner BioNTech (
BNTX
) announced on Monday that their COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing the disease. Pfizer CEO called the development as “a great day for science and humanity.”
Scientists were hoping for a coronavirus vaccine that is 50% or 60% effective; the 90% rate is significantly above most expectations and puts it almost at par with the measles vaccine. Flu vaccines are about 30% to 60% effective.
The hope that the vaccine might return life to normal sent economically sensitive stocks soaring. Stay at home stocks plunged while stocks that benefit from reopening surged. Safe haven areas like gold and government bonds fell.
The VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (
OIH
), which holds 25 largest US-listed oil services companies, surged more than 18%.
The ETFMG Travel Tech ETF (
AWAY
) holds companies in global travel and tourism industry such as Expedia (
EXPE
) and Uber Technologies (
UBER
). It was up more than 18%.
Southwest (
LUV
) and Delta (
DAL
) are the top holdings in the US Global Jets ETF (
JETS
), the only airline ETF available to US investors. It gained more than 16%.
The Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (
KBWR
), which tracks an equal-weighted index of US regional banks, was up more than 16%.
To learn more about these ETFs, please watch the short video above.
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