Stocks go higher on vaccine optimism and stimulus hopes Stocks rallied in Tuesday trading, supported by vaccine optimism and stimulus hopes. The FDA told advisors ahead of an upcoming meeting that it views Moderna's vaccine as "highly effective," paving the way for the potential approval of a second shot as early as this week while Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine is currently being distributed across the U.S. Meanwhile, expectations for fiscal stimulus perked up after a new relief package was presented yesterday and it was reported today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited her fellow leaders to a meeting this afternoon. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., import prices edged up 0.1% and export prices rose 0.6% in November. Industrial production rose 0.4% in November, which was better than expected. The Empire State manufacturing PMI fell 1.4 points to 4.9 in December, marking its third consecutive monthly slide, but also a sixth straight month in expansion territory. Meanwhile, Politico's Jake Sherman reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "has invited her fellow leaders to a meeting this afternoon to discuss finalizing govt funding and covid relief." The meeting will include Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. TOP NEWS: Shares of Eli Lilly ($LLY) rose 6% after the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire Prevail Therapeutics ($PRVL) for $22.50 per share in cash payable at closing plus one non-tradable contingent value right, or CVR, worth up to $4.00 per share in cash, for a total consideration of up to $26.50 per share in cash, or an aggregate of approximately $1.04B. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. Along with the announcement, Lilly also raised its fiscal 2020 earnings and revenue guidance and provided upbeat guidance for fiscal 2021. Prevail shares surged 82% higher after the deal news. Moderna ($MRNA) shares were in focus after the FDA released briefing documents on the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate ahead of a December 17 advisory panel, saying that the two-dose vaccine regimen was "highly effective" in preventing PCR-confirmed COVID-19 occurring at least 14 days after receipt of the second dose. CBC News later reported that the Canadian government has reached an agreement with Moderna that would sees doses of its vaccine shipped to the country within 48 hours of Health Canada approval. In other COVID-19 news, Pfizer ($PFE) CEO Albert Bourla said in an open letter that he expects the company's COVID-19 vaccine, which is co-developed with BioNTech ($BNTX), moving from manufacturing facilities to any U.S. point of use within two days. Shares of Wells Fargo ($WFC) rose 3.8% after Keefe Bruyette analyst Brian Kleinhanzl upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and raised his price target on the shares to $36 from $28. The analyst said the bank's longer-term prospects "are still substantial" and the stock's current valuation provides an attractive entry point. Meanwhile, Apple ($AAPL) shares finished 5% higher after Nikkei Asia's Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang reported that the tech giant plans to produce up to 96M iPhones for the first half of 2021, which would equate to a nearly 30% increase in year-on-year production. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was OncoCyte ($OCX), which surged 19.3% after Burning Rock Biotech ($BNR) announced that it entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with the company to bring DetermaRx, a risk stratification test for early stage lung cancer patients, to China. Also higher was Arvinas ($ARVN), which rose another 27.2% after analysts at Roth Capital and Citi raised their price targets on the shares following updates the company issued yesterday. Among the notable losers was Luminar ($LAZR), which declined 17.6% after Reuters reported that Mobileye ($INTC) CEO Amnon Shashua expects the the company to build its own LIDAR sensors to control costs. Following the report, Citron Research tweeted that Luminar shares have "a long way down." Also lower was Mesoblast ($MESO), which fell 19.7% after announcing there was no reduction in recurrent non-fatal decompensated heart failure events, which was the trial's primary endpoint, in its DREAM-HF study. Reviewing Wednesday's economic data:Industrial production increased 0.4% m/m in November (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) following a downwardly revised 0.9% increase (from 1.1%) in October. The capacity utilization rate jumped to 73.3% (Briefing.com consensus 73.0%) from an upwardly revised 73.0% (from 72.8%) in October.The key takeaway from the report was the robust growth seen in the production of motor vehicles and parts, which increased 5.3% and helped account for 0.4 percentage points of the 0.8% increase in manufacturing output.Import prices increased 0.1% in November; and prices excluding oil decreased 0.3%. Export prices increased 0.6% in November; and prices excluding agriculture increased 0.3%.Nasdaq Composite +40.4% YTDRussell 2000 +17.5% YTDS&P 500 +14.4% YTDDow Jones Industrial Average +5.8% YTDMarket SnapshotDow30199.25+337.76(1.13%)Nasdaq12594.97+155.02(1.25%)SP 5003694.63+47.13(1.29%)10-yr Note -1/320.910NYSEAdv 2346 Dec 761 Vol 923.7 mlnNasdaqAdv 2523 Dec 1122 Vol 4.3 blnIndustry WatchStrong: Information Technology, Materials, Financials, Utilities, IndustrialsWeak: Real Estate, Communication ServicesMoving the Market-- Major indices trade at session highs-- Apple (AAPL) provides influential support on report that it's planning to increase iPhone production by 30% in first half of 2021-- Cyclical sectors outperform ahead of stimulus meeting at 4:00 p.m. ET-- Relative weakness in communication services sector amid EU regulatory concerns Disclosure: I may trade in the ticker symbols mentioned, both long or short. 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