DAX
The DAX index is adding to yesterday’s strong performance with another bullish day, as German biotech firm CureVac has indicated it could have a coronavirus vaccine within a year.
According to a Reuters report monitored within the hour, the company says it will start receiving results of the first human trials in the fall of this year and will commence the Phase 2 trials in September. The Paul Ehrlich Institut, Germany’s vaccine regulator, confirmed the news, stating that the Phase 1 trial could last 15 months and would include 168 healthy adults. One hundred and forty-four (144) subjects of this number would receive the experimental vaccine, starting from this month. The regulator also said Phase 2 trials would commence if early data from the Phase 1 trial were promising.
This announcement means that CureVac becomes the second German company to start testing a coronavirus vaccine candidate on humans. The first was Biontech, which got approved for testing in April.
On Monday, Germany’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced it would take a €300 million ($337 million) stake in Curevac, acquiring around 23% of the company’s shares. The aim is to protect the company from a potential takeover from abroad. The state said it did not wish to influence business decisions.
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The German government is proposing to acquire a 23% stake in the CureVac worth €300 million ($337 million), to stave off acquisition by foreign interests. The DAX index is trading nearly 0.9% higher on this news and continues to trade at 12,421.20.
The DAX index is now challenging the nearest resistance at 12432.83. A breakout above this level allows the index asset to target the 12625.62 resistance target (20 June and 20 July 2019). The 12882.68 resistance (recent highs of June 8/9 2020 as well as the previous peak of 24 October 2019) lies overhead and could become a target if price advance continues.
Failure to breach the current resistance could provide a basis for a pullback towards the 200-SMA dynamic support. If this gives way, a further decline to 11995.83 and possibly 11713.07 (last week’s lows) may be likely.