The Dow Jones was up more than 4% in early trading while the S&P was up 3%.

But news that a vaccine in the works from the two companies may be over 90% effective was cheered on Wall Street as a major step in the fight against a virus that has killed more than a million people worldwide and battered the global economy.

The announcement boosted companies in the hardest-hit sectors. Airline shares -- including American, Southwest and Delta, were all up sharply... while Cruise line stocks soared as well.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean were up more than 30 percent.

And after a disastrous year, theater companies' shares surged too, with AMC's stock up 40 percent.

Meanwhile shares of companies that have benefited from pandemic-related lockdowns dropped, including conferencing platform Zoom Video and Peloton.