Moderna to join S&P 500, stocks rise 8%



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Moderna Inc., a biotech company catapulted to fame after producing a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine, is set to join the S&P 500 Index, a seal of approval that will place the stock in countless index and actively managed funds and retirement accounts.

Moderna MRNA actions,
+ 5.28%
rose 8% in the extended session Thursday after the announcement. The stock has gained 149% this year, compared to gains of 16% for the S&P 500 SPX,
-0.33%
in the same period.

Moderna will replace Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. ALXN,
-3.27%
At the opening on July 21, S&P Dow Jones Indices, the manager of the index, said in a statement.

Moderna, in the Boston area, was a relatively unknown rambling biotech startup before its successful COVID-19 vaccine, approved last year in the United States on an emergency basis for adults. The cliché, like that of Pfizer Inc. PFE,
+ 0.35%,
uses messenger RNA technology. Both vaccines have been shown to be over 90% effective.

AstraZeneca Plc. AZN,
-4.75%,
which has also developed a COVID-19 vaccine alongside the University of Oxford, is buying Alexion and the $ 39 billion deal is expected to close soon. The companies announced the deal in December.

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