Monday 9 November saw significant stock market moves following the news that a Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was 90% effective in interim clinical trial results. How did the news impact the payments world?

For companies that have benefited from lockdown, such as Peloton, Zoom and Netflix, this led to stark drops, but for payments companies it has been a story of two halves.

While those serving travel, consumer and B2B cross-border payments have seen their value surge on the prospect of international travel (and life) returning to normal, ecommerce companies saw their values drop as investors anticipated a slump in online spending. 

Of course, these are just interim results for a vaccine that still has to undergo several regulatory and manufacturing steps. However, it does provide a sense of how the market may adjust post-pandemic. 

Lucy Ingham

LinkedIn

Lucy is Head of Content & Editor-in-Chief at FXC Intelligence, overseeing all content and taking deep dives into the trends and data driving changes in payments. Before joining FXC Intelligence, Lucy worked as a technology journalist and editor, interviewing CEOs and major names across enterprise technology, including fintech. She has an MSc in Development Anthropology from Durham University.