Sector movers: Travel and construction stocks gain with crisis end in sight

Travel and Leisure shares were among the top performing areas of the market at the start of March, as investors cheered news that the number of new coronavirus infections was still falling sharply on both sides of the Atlantic.

That was especially true in the UK, were the trend rate of decline in infections was approaching 30% per week.

Indeed, "effective herd immunity should" be reached by late May, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

The US meanwhile was expected to reach herd immunity by mid-2021, allowing for the full reopening of the economy by May "provided the pace of vaccinations keeps ahead of the spread of B117."

Western and Eastern Europe on the other hand were still trying to come to grips with the new B117 strain first detected in the UK, with new infections starting to rise again in most countries.

UK home construction stocks were likely also being boosted by the continued good news on the pandemic front.

Top performing sectors so far today

Leisure Goods 24,729.74 +3.77%

Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 5,566.73 +3.55%

Life Insurance 7,737.04 +3.07%

Travel & Leisure 9,079.14 +3.06%

Household Goods & Home Construction 16,815.40 +2.91%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Food & Drug Retailers 4,189.70 -0.68%

Automobiles & Parts 4,704.02 -0.54%

Banks 2,740.53 -0.29%

Industrial Transportation 3,324.10 -0.02%

Alternative Energy 0.00 0.00%