Dow rises more than 150 points after Pfizer-BioNTech deal, lawmakers move toward further stimulus; European markets close lower as coronavirus concerns weigh on sentiment; BELEX15 down 0.95%; Net direct foreign investments in May at EUR 201 million, a quarter less than last year
Stocks rose on Wednesday, boosted by news of a coronavirus vaccine deal between the U.S. government and Pfizer and BioNTech and apparent progress on U.S. stimulus negotiations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 165.44 points, or 0.6%, to close at 27,005.84. It was the Dow’s third straight gain. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 3,276.84, posting a four-day winning streak, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2% to 10,706.13. The S&P 500 also traded at its highest level in five months. 
The U.S. agreed to pay Pfizer and German-partner BioNTech $1.95 billion to produce 100 million coronavirus vaccines if it proves to be safe and effective. The Department of Health and Human Services added the U.S. can acquire an additional 500 million doses of the drug under the agreement.  
Pfizer rose more than 5%. BioNTech’s U.S.-listed shares gained 13.7%.
Shares of Snap dropped more than 6% after the social media company reported fewer-than-expected daily active users.
Shares of United Airlines dipped 4.2% after the company reported a net loss of $1.62 billion for the second quarter. The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on travel fueled an 87% year-over-year revenue decline for the Chicago-based airline.

European stocks closed lower on Wednesday as concerns over the coronavirus outweighed optimism over the European Union’s recovery fund. The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended down 0.9%, with oil and gas stocks shedding more than 2% to lead losses as all sectors except financial services slid into negative territory.

BELEX15 was down 0.95%, thus it partly neutralized recent gains. This drop was a result of 7% decrease at Belgrade Airport, while NIS was the most active with RSD 0.5m in volume. Trade turnover for the entire market was at only miserable EUR 6 ths.
Net direct foreign investments in Serbia amounted to EUR 201 million this May, which is around 26% less than in the same month last year, as announced by Ivan Nikolic, a senior research associate at the Economics Institute of Belgrade. He told Beta that, in the first five months of 2020, total net direct foreign investments in Serbia had amounted to EUR 1.253 billion. The investments are lower by 11.7%, or EUR 166 million, than in the same period last year – Nikolic said.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika