Europe’s major stock markets shot up on Monday after Moderna announced its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was shown to be 94.5% effective according to early trial results, sparking fresh hope of a return to normality.

“This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,”  Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO was quoted as saying by AFP.

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European equities accelerated gains on the news, which comes just one week after Pfizer and BioNTech sparked a stock market boom in the US after announcing that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate had proved 90% effective. Shortly after midday on Monday, London stocks were up 1.7%, extending early gains.In early afternoon deals in the eurozone, Frankfurt added 1.2% and Paris soared 2.4 %, while Madrid and Milan jumped 3.9% and 2.3%, respectively.

“Just as their initial dose of vaccine bullishness appeared to be waning, the markets got another injection of good news this Monday,” Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP.

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Moderna has claimed its preparation is nearly ‘95% effective’ after a trial involving 30,000 Americans.As with Pfizer, there is still a way to go before Moderna’s vaccine is approved. However, investors were only thinking about the long-term, flashing forward to the end of this nightmare.

World oil prices soared by more than 3.5% as the Moderna news stoked hopes of a recovery in energy demand. Prior to the midday announcement, global stock markets were already staging a rally on bright economic data and last week’s Pfizer vaccine as they waited on Moderna’s expected announcement.

Equities also bounded higher after US President-elect Joe Biden’s team pledged not to impose an economically damaging nationwide lockdown to contain the virus, which has now infected more than 11 million Americans. In addition, traders cheered the signing of the world’s biggest free-trade deal by 15 Asia-Pacific countries — including Japan and China — that covers about a third of the world’s GDP.