Once again, pharmaceutical companies related to Covid-19 vaccines have been quite closely related. Novavax Inc. (NVAX) leapt by +2.93% to $120.27 on Tuesday. The U.S. biotechnology firm’s latest coronavirus vaccine candidate could be accepted next year, subject, of course, to good outcomes from the recently completed Phase 3 clinical trial.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) was up +0.62% to $37.05 while its vaccine partner Germany’s BioNTech SE (BNTX) rose +0.19% to $88.28. As announced by the President of the Commission, the European Union plans to order an extra 100 million doses of the Covid vaccine, taking the number to 300 million.
Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) jumped +2.68% to $114.39 whereas AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) surged by +1.05% to $49.9, while the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday that, due to a shortage of vaccine knowledge and a formal proposal from AstraZeneca as early as next month, it would definitely not be able to sanction the vaccine developed by the British laboratory and Oxford University as early as next month. On the other hand, the firm has submitted application to the UK government, where in the coming days the green light is anticipated.
Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ARCT) fell drastically by -54.17% to $42.36 as the firm reported poor findings for its vaccine candidate’s clinical trial against Covid-19. Also the San Diego, California-headquartered firm got 5 downgrade recommendations on Tuesday weighing more on the stock’s decline on the day. Analysts at Robert W. Baird and Raymond James downgraded their recommendation from “Outperform” to “Neutral”, H.C. Wainwright from “Buy” to “Neutral”, ROTH Capital from “Buy” to “Sell” while Barclays revised its recommendation to “Equal Weight” for the company which previously was “Overweight.” Robert W. Baird also lessened its target price for the stock from $79 to $69.
Other than pharmaceutical companies, stock of Target Corporation (TGT) was also down -0.77% to $175.04 on Tuesday. The U.S. discount retailer is selling Dermstore’s online beauty goods sales platform to the British Company Hut Group for $350 million in cash.
