Airline stocks soared following Pfizer’s announcement of successful tests of its COVID-19 antiviral pill. Delta Air Lines gained 8.05%, United Airlines - 7.26%, Southwest Airlines - 6.44%, American Airlines - 5.77%. The index of Asia-Pacific airline stocks rallied 4.5%, the most since March, Bloomberg reported. Other tourist sector businesses in the Asia-Pacific region found support in Pfizer’s announcement - Bloomberg’s gauge of Macau casino shares went up by 5.9%. The travel sector, which was battered by the pandemic, is hopeful the recent development would help revive international tourism.
On Friday, Pfizer released the clinical trial results of its antiviral pill Paxlovid. According to Pfizer, the drug may reduce hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk COVID-19 patients by 89%. Although the pill is yet to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the company stock skyrocketed after the press release, jumping by 13%. Pfizer’s competitors slumped on the news: BioNTech lost 21%, Moderna - 16.6%, Novavax - 11.3%, Merck - 10%. Shares of Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics sank by 17%. Wuxi Biologics Cayman, a manufacturer of ingredients for the AstraZeneca vaccine, fell by 8.6%.
The success of Pfizer’s pill could “create uncertainties for earnings outlook and valuations of Chinese vaccine makers,” said Daniel So, a strategist at CMB International Securities. “The impacts are expected to be of mid-to-long-term”, he added.
