Stock Market Euphoria greets Pfizer's Announcement: Ibex soars to 8%

BarcelonaStock markets around the world have skyrocketed as soon as the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that its covid-19 vaccine is effective in 90% of cases.

In Spain, where the Ibex-35 was up less than 2% this morning (according to analysts, thanks to Joe Biden's victory in the US elections), the announcement has caused a jump of 8%. A rise that, despite the logical oscillations, was maintained at 2.30pm.

The most benefited companies have been those linked to tourism and travel: by 2.30pm, IAG (the company that brings together Iberia, British Airways and Vueling) had gone up 31%, although it had gone up over 40% at some points during the morning. Meliá grew by 25%, Amadeus by 17% and Aena by 14%.

The banks, which have been heavily penalised on the stock market since the beginning of the pandemic, also benefited from Pfizer's announcement: Santander, with 15%, and Sabadell, with 13%, were the financial institutions that rose the most. No company in the Íbex-35 was negative.

These rises have brought a logical joy to investors, eager for good news, but did not mask the harsh reality: they still have a long way to go to recover the losses accumulated during the long months of pandemic. Despite this Monday's rise in IAG, for example, the company's shares have dropped 52% of their share compared with since January 1. In the case of Meliá, the cumulative fall is 44%. The same happens in the cases of Sabadell (-70%), Santander (-45%) and Bankinter (-42%)