Jake Novak's Morning Business Briefing, 11/9
STOCKS/ECONOMY
-Stock futures are sharply higher on encouraging COVID-19 vaccine news and as investors cheer the apparent end to election uncertainty as the major U.S. news media outlets have called the presidential contest for Joe Biden despite many legal challenges to come.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is up to 0.93 percent, with the 2-year yield 77 basis points behind at 0.16 percent.
-Gold is down to the $1,916 per ounce level. Bitcoin is at the $15,600 level.
-Asian markets surged higher today, led by a 2.1 percent gain for Japan's Nikkei index. Shanghai's Shenzhen composite rose 1.9 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.2 percent.
OIL/ENERGY
-U.S. crude prices are up 8 percent to the $40 a barrel level.
-Gasoline prices are back down to $2.11 a gallon, national average.
CORONAVIRUS LATEST
-Pfizer and BioNTech say late-stage trial data shows their jointly-developed COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing the infection. Pfizer shares are up 12 percent in the premarket, BioNTech shares are up 21 percent.
-The U.S. is nearing the 10 million COVID-19 case mark, even as death rates continue to fall.
-Median rents in Manhattan are down 11 percent after the exodus of tenants from New York City during the height of the pandemic, prompting renters who stayed to upgrade to bigger, better living spaces.
MCDONALDS EARNINGS
-McDonalds reported a 4.6 percent gain in quarterly same store sales to go along with better than expected profits. McDonald's shares are up 3 percent in the premarket.
WHALE WATCHING
-Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought back $9 billion of its own stock in the third quarter of this year, bringing its total buybacks to $15.1 billion so far in 2020.
TRADE WARS
-The European Union is moving ahead with plans to slap tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. imports as it protests what it believes are illegal subsidies for Boeing.
MOVING AMERICA
-Virgin Hyperloop says humans have traveled in its superfast vacuum tube for the first time on Sunday. It was a modest test run, reaching a speed of 100 miles per hour over 500 meters. The company is hoping to hit speeds of more than 600 miles per hour.