Zoom tumbles 20% as Pfizer's vaccine success drags on work-from-home stocks
- Zoom dove as much as 20% on Monday after encouraging data from Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trials dragged stay-at-home stocks lower.
- The pharmaceutical company announced Monday morning that its experimental coronavirus vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in trial participants.
- The news lifted global stocks, particularly those for firms hit hardest by the pandemic like airlines and hotels.
- Conversely, stay-at-home names including Zoom, DocuSign, and Peloton tumbled as investors bet on the vaccine ending the global health crisis.
- Watch Zoom trade live here.
Zoom Video Communications slid as much as 20% on Monday as Pfizer's encouraging COVID-19 vaccine news prompted outsized selling of so-called stay-at-home stocks.
The US pharmaceutical giant announced Monday morning that its experimental coronavirus vaccine, created in collaboration with BioNTech, was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in trial participants. Pfizer said it would apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization, which would allow for a faster rollout of the vaccine.
The news fueled hopes that a viable coronavirus vaccine could end the global health crisis. US stock futures surged. Industries slammed hardest by the virus — including airlines, hotels, and cruises — rallied in early trading.
Conversely, companies that thrived through stay-at-home orders tanked. DocuSign, Peloton, and Wayfair joined Zoom and others in the sell-off as investors boosted bets on safe reopenings.
Zoom was among the market's biggest winners through the year as its videoconferencing software became ubiquitous with telecommuting. The company's shares closed at $500.11 on Friday, up nearly 650% year-to-date.
Monday's slump placed the stock at its lowest since late September.
The stay-at-home group's plunge was part of a trading pattern seen after other positive vaccine updates. Promising data from Gilead's, Moderna's, and AstraZeneca's trials dragged on telecommuting stocks earlier in the year. The stocks tended to rise when vaccine candidates failed trials or virus cases increased.
With the world facing a resurgence in coronavirus infections and several advanced economies enacting new lockdown measures, Pfizer's announcement cut into strong momentum for Zoom shares.
Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:
These are the market's biggest winners and losers of a hectic election week
US economy beats forecasts, adds 638,000 jobs in October as unemployment falls to 6.9%
