S&P 500 Stumbles as Moderna’s Trial Results Are Being Questioned

The knee-jerk optimism from the market on Moderna’s trial results may fade until solid evidence from trials is available. Short S&P 500?

Moderna Inc, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced encouraging interim results from ongoing phase 1 trial for its experimental coronavirus vaccine.

US stock markets added gains on Monday after a press release from Moderna raised optimism of a potential vaccine.

However, Moderna stocks stumbled the next day after a report by vaccine experts “poured cold water” on their trials. They questioned Moderna’s trial results which only disclosed 8 out of 45 subjects with the majority results being unknown.

Furthermore, Moderna has yet to publish its studies in scientific journals –though they might want to develop the vaccine first and delay disclosure of their findings to the public.

Lastly, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, Moderna’s partner in developing the vaccine, declined to comment on Moderna’s findings, which is unusual for the institute.

Other reasons why US stock futures may start to weaken:

1) Congress unlikely to pass new stimulus bill worth USD3 trillion that is proposed by the Democrats.
2) US stocks are still super-expensive relative to earnings forecast according to Bloomberg.