Here's Why Moderna Stock Jumped Today

Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) are up 14% at 1:01 p.m. EST on Monday, having been up as much as 18.6% today, likely because COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, continues to spread globally.

There have been over 89,000 confirmed cases of the disease according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering. While most (over 80,000) have been in mainland China, the number of cases outside that country continues to climb. A second death in the U.S. from the disease was reported Sunday night.

Moderna has already created a vaccine, mRNA-1273, which the biotech has shipped to researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A clinical trial is scheduled to start this month, which will produce early initial results by August.

Source Fool.com