US stocks closed with Moderna surging 176%, adding $44 billion in market value

According to Odaily, data from MSX.COM shows the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index surged 6.4%, its biggest gain in six years. Moderna soared 176%, adding $44 billion to its market capitalization. Merck closed up 13%, marking its largest single-day gain since March 2009. Estée Lauder shares closed up 16%, the biggest jump since 2011. Meanwhile, storage and optical communications sectors declined, with Seagate Technology falling over 7%, Western Digital dropping over 6%, and SanDisk down 3.5%. Lumentum fell over 5%, Coherent dropped over 6%, and Corning slipped over 5%.