S&P 500 builds on Tuesday's gains, opens more than 1% higher on vaccine hopes

• Wall Street's main indexes open sharply higher on Tuesday.
• Moderna and Oxford are reportedly producing positive results in vaccine trials.
• All major sectors of S&P 500 trade in positive territory.

Major equity indexes in the US started the day sharply higher on Wednesday as investors cheer reports ramping up coronavirus vaccine optimism. Reflecting the risk-on mood, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, is down nearly 5% on the day.

Vaccine hopes lift market mood

As of writing, the S&P 500 was rising nearly 1% on the day at 3,226, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.65%.

Moderna said that it received 'robust' immune response in its coronavirus vaccine trial and announced that it will kick off its late-stage trial with 30,000 participants on July 27th. Moreover, Robert Peston, ITV News’ political editor, said that Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine was generating "the kind of antibody and T-cell (killer cell) response that the researchers would hope to see."

Earlier in the day, the report published by the US Federal Reserve revealed that Industrial Production in June increased by 5.4%. Boosted by this data, the Industrial Index is up 1.6% as the best-performing major S&P 500 sector. The Energy Index, the Materials Index, the Financials Index and the Technology Index all gain more than 1% in the early trade.