Sector movers: Big Pharma paces gains, Banks track drop in yields
Defensives paced Wednesday's rally from an early drop as investors woke up to find the result of the US presidential elections were still being hotly contested.
While not wholly a surprise, some pundits were caught on the hop.
But the strong performance from Big Pharma was about more than just the US elections, mostly even.
Towards mid-morning, English hospitals were put on alarm in case a Covid-19 vaccine was ready for distribution this side of Christmas.
The news proved a fillip for AstraZeneca just a day before it was to update investors on third quarter trading.
Not lost on markets was the fact that AstraZeneca was the developer, alongside Oxford University, of AZD1222, one of the leading vaccine candidates against Covid-19.
To take note of however, by the end of the session, markets had appeared to warm to the idea that a 'clean sweep' by the Democrats of the White House and both chambers of Congress was well and truly off the table.
Hence gains for Industrial Transportation and Software stocks.
Going the other way, the main victim of US Republicans' ability to retain control of the Senate were banks.
The sector had run up in the days prior to voting on hopes that a clean sweep for Democrats would lead to a bumper fiscal stimulus package towards the start of 2021, which served to pull Treasury yields off their session highs.
Top performing sectors so far today
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 17,502.77 +5.69%
Health Care Equipment & Services 6,271.84 +4.36%
Beverages 20,629.34 +3.54%
Industrial Transportation 2,073.31 +3.46%
Software & Computer Services 1,906.87 +3.43%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Banks 2,057.09 -3.43%
Construction & Materials 6,216.46 -3.28%
Automobiles & Parts 2,894.06 -1.72%
Industrial Metals & Mining 3,676.36 -1.35%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 1,247.69 -1.16%
oday
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 17,358.86 +4.82%
Beverages 20,564.32 +3.21%
Health Care Equipment & Services 6,197.46 +3.12%
Industrial Transportation 2,065.38 +3.06%
Tobacco 26,597.33 +2.87%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Construction & Materials 6,173.20 -3.95%
Banks 2,067.16 -2.96%
Industrial Metals & Mining 3,622.21 -2.80%
Automobiles & Parts 2,903.57 -1.39%
Mining 17,131.45 -1.38%