Stock Market Today: Another Vaccine-Trial Stumble Clips Wall Street's Optimism

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Investors had plenty to chew on Tuesday, and it showed in a down day for stocks.

The big headline out of the gate was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, -2.3%) pausing late-stage trials for its promising COVID-19 vaccine due to an "unexplained illness," which, as we explained when AstraZeneca (AZN) was forced to do the same, isn't uncommon and doesn't necessarily spell doom for the treatment.

20 Best Stocks to Invest In During This Recession

"JNJ decided to temporarily halt all dosing of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate due to an unexplained illness in a volunteer in the study," writes CFRA's Sel Hardy, who nonetheless maintained a Strong Buy rating on JNJ and upgraded earnings estimates after the company's strong third-quarter earnings results. "We welcome JNJ's transparency and expect to see further clarity as the issue is examined by an independent board."

From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance

Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just ~~$107.88~~ $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues

CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/y99mlvgqmn1763972420.png

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Meanwhile, stimulus talks remained muddy; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his chamber would vote on a bill centered around the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) sometime this month, though it's uncertain whether it would get past the House.

Apple (AAPL, -2.7%) gave up a little of its recent gains after it unveiled a suite of four new iPhones, including an iPhone 12 Mini with a 5.4-inch screen. And JPMorgan Chase (JPM, -1.6%), which kicked off the Q3 earnings calendar by beating expectations, still slumped as CEO Jamie Dimon warned more stimulus is needed to help the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.6% to 28,679.

Other action in the stock market today:

The Nasdaq Composite managed a mere 0.1% decline to 11,863.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 3,511.
The small-cap Russell 2000 lost 0.7% to 1,636.

COVID Treatments' Push and Pull on Wall Street

The broader market results don't indicate much fallout from today's disappointing COVID-19 news, which also included a halt to Eli Lilly's (LLY, -2.9%) antibody treatment.

5 Best Health Care Mutual Funds for the Long Run

But take a closer look: Industrials, real estate, banks and energy, which rely heavily on robust economic activity, were solidly lower today. However, technology and communications once again showed relative strength as they have all year, bolstering the fortunes of technology funds such as these 15 products, and that should continue to be the case as long as effective treatments and vaccines remain elusive.

The same goes for the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which invests in the index composed of the Nasdaq's 100 largest financials and has raked in billions in assets this year, prompting Invesco to launch even more funds tied to the index. (You can read about a host of Nasdaq-100 products here.)

At some point, however, a vaccine or treatment will finally get the green light, and while it might take months to reach most of America's population, most experts expect that to "flip the switch" for a host of battered industries. Here, we look at 11 stocks to buy that are in rough shape right now, but that could pivot in a heartbeat when a game-changing medical breakthrough is announced.

Disclaimer

Kyle Woodley was long AAPL and QQQ as of this writing.

14 Best Tech Stocks That Aren't on Your Radar

Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.

Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.

You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.