Why Virgin Galactic Stock's Moonshot Move Didn't Lift the Stock Market Today
The stock market was mixed on Monday morning, opening generally lower but bouncing back from the worst of those losses after a few hours of trading. Nervousness about the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in several countries and U.S. states has some fearing that the bull market from the March lows has gotten ahead of itself. Yet others still believe that the reopening of the economy will bring dividends. Just after 11 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was down 57 points to 25,815. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fell 3 points to 3,095, but the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) picked up 25 points to 9,972.
One of the biggest movers early Monday was Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE: SPCE). The space tourism portion of Sir Richard Branson's corporate empire has gotten a lot of press lately, and a key agreement announced this morning could open up a coveted destination for would-be space travelers. Virgin Galactic isn't big enough to move the whole market, but its stock saw a nice gain as a result.
Virgin Galactic's stock rose 9% after having opened higher by double that. The move followed news from the company that it had entered into a key agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that could dramatically enhance the attractiveness of its space plane trips.
Source Fool.com
