Why Moderna Stock Is Sliding Today

Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) had slid 4.2% lower at 11:26 a.m. ET on Tuesday after being down as much as 5.8% earlier in the day. The company didn't announce any negative news. However, there were a couple of factors that could be behind the decline.

Today's move could be at least partially due to profit-taking after Moderna's shares rose on Monday. The vaccine stock gained more than 3% yesterday after the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency authorized Moderna's bivalent COVID-19 booster targeting the coronavirus omicron variant.

Investors could also be unhappy with Merck's (NYSE: MRK) collaboration with Orna Therapeutics to develop circular RNA (oRNA) therapies. Researchers have found that oRNA molecules have greater stability for use in in vivo (in the body) therapies than linear messenger RNA (mRNA). Merck was an early investor in Moderna but sold all its shares in 2020.

Source Fool.com