Dow climbs 834 points amid election results, positive vaccine trials

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by more than 800 points Monday, in its first day of trading since the results of the U.S. presidential election and amid optimism for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The blue-chip stock index closed the day up 834.57 points, or 2.95% after hitting an all-time high earlier in the session, rising more than 1,600 points. The S&P 500 ended the day up 1.17% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.53% as investors moved away from tech stocks.

Former Vice President Joe Biden was projected on Saturday as the winner of the presidential contest after the major outlets called Pennsylvania in his favor. The state's 20 electoral votes put Biden over the 270 mark needed to win. President Donald Trump has refused to concede.

The Dow's movement also followed an announcement by drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech earlier Monday, which reported that late-stage data for its COVID-19 vaccine has so far indicated that the vaccine is about 90% effective.

BioNTech stock shot up 13.91%, while Pfizer stock climbed 7.69%.

Additionally, Biden's transition team announced its 13-member COVID-19 advisory task force, which will be co-chaired by former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Marcella Nunez-Smith, a public health expert at the Yale School of Medicine.

The optimism surrounding COVID-19 response led to surges in stocks that would benefit most from restrictions related to the pandemic being lifted.

Carnival stock skyrocketed up 39.39%, retailer Kohl's shot up 19.91%, American Airlines increased 15.18% and Bank of America rose 14.19%.

Tech stocks faltered, however, dragging the Nasdaq down and capping overall market growth Zoom stock plummetted 17.37%, Netflix stock dropped 8.59%, Amazon declined 5.06% and Facebook fell 4.99%.