Fix This, Pfizer

By Alex Eule |  Thursday, December 3 Now Comes the Hard Part. At one point today, all three major indexes were trading at all-time highs, putting them on track to close at simultaneous records for the first time since Feb. 12. But then came the news that Pfizer would be shipping only half the expected doses of its Covid-19 vaccine by the of the year.  The company now plans just 50 million doses this month, down from 100 million. "Scaling up the raw material supply chain took longer than expected," a spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal this afternoon. All investors saw was a raw deal. After peaking at 3:23 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average quickly dropped 234 points, ending the day up 86 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 finished essentially flat.  Of the major indexes, only the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite managed to hold on to its record level into the close, rising 0.2% on the day. It was one more reminder that tech trades in its own world -- free from virus concerns.  The Pfizer news could add some new volatility into markets in the days to come. Investors have priced in vaccine success, having spent weeks hearing about impressive results from multiple trials. But manufacturing billions of doses and distributing them to people across the world was never going to be easy. Today's news serves as an early warning. Pfizer did say it was still on track to meet its goal of more than 1 billion doses for 2021.  In Washington, lawmakers continue to work on their own Covid treatment. And for the first time in weeks, the news around a stimulus plan is actually encouraging. Both parties indicated today that a compromise was within reach, though any agreement is likely to be in the billions, not trillions.  Jobless claims, meanwhile, moderated somewhat, with first-time claims at 712,000, down about 75,000 from a week ago.  Energy stocks had a good day after OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, came to a compromise to add just 500,000 barrels a day to its oil production starting in January. The cartel had previously agreed on an increase of 2 million barrels. The lower supply should offer some support for energy prices in the months to come. Crude oil ended the day up 0.8%, to $45.64 a barrel. Avi Salzman has more about OPEC's compromise on Barrons.com.

 

DJIA: +0.29% to 29,969.52 S&P 500: +0.06% to 3,666.72 Nasdaq: +0.23% to 12,377.18 The Hot Stock: Ralph Lauren +8.7% The Biggest Loser: Cabot Oil & Gas -6.6% Best Sector: Energy +1.0% Worst Sector: Utilities -1.0%