US OPEN: Wall Street mixed despite new positive vaccine news

US indices launched today's session in mixed moods despite the fact Pfizer Inc (PFE.US) announced that final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine show it was 95% effective, adding it had the required two-months of safety data and would shortly apply for emergency US authorization. Also, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home and that provides rapid results. Meanwhile US reported 161.9K new infections yesterday, this is the third highest daily count since the pandemic started and almost 1.7K deaths, the most since May, according to Johns Hopkins data. On the data front, building permits were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.545 million in October, but came in below analysts' expectations of 1.56 million. Housing starts rose 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million units in October, from an upwardly revised 1.459 million in the previous month and above market expectations of 1.46 million.

 

Lowe’s (LOW.US) – stock fell 6% after the company posted mixed quarterly figures. Company missed consensus estimate by a penny a share, with quarterly earnings of $1.98 per share. Revenue came in above expectations. Same-store sales jumped 30.1%, well above analysts' estimate of 22.8% increase. However higher labor costs and investments in its e-commerce business weighed on sentiment.

Target Corp (TGT.US) stock rose over 2% in pre-market after company reported better than expected quarterly figures. The retailer earned $2.79 per share , well above analysts' expectations of $1.60 a share. Revenue also topped market estimates. Company's comparable-store sales rose 20.7% well above the consensus estimate of 11.2%.

Apple (AAPL.US) will introduce a new program which aims to reduce app store fees for smaller software developers. From the beginning of 2021 developers who earn $1 million or less from the app store will pay a commission of 15%, instead of the standard 30%.

Boeing (BA.US) – shares rose 5% in the premarket after the Federal Aviation Administration allowed the return of Boeing’s 737 Max jet to service, after grounding it in March 2019 following two fatal crashes. American Airlines (AAL.US) will be the first to put Max commercial flights back on its schedule in late December.

 

Tesla (TSLA.US) was upgraded to “overweight” from “equal-weight” at Morgan Stanley. Bank raised the price target to $540 per share from $360 saying that Tesla is making a shift toward generating high margin recurring software and services revenue.