One of the key movers for Nasdaq was Moderna, a company working on a vaccine for COVID-19. The company released a new study that shows their vaccine is proving to be successful. In a preliminary trial of the vaccine with 45 healthy patients, all participants experienced an appropriate immune response after being given the vaccine, and all 45 remain healthy. Moderna now plans to move forward with another larger trial at the end of the month. 
Another major win for the U.S. stock markets was Apple winning a court case in the second-highest European Union court. This win states that the company is no longer required to pay €13 billion in taxes to the Irish government. The case was brought against the tech giant in 2016, as it was believed that the company was receiving illegal tax breaks in Dublin. The European Union claimed that Apple was attributing all of their earnings within the EU to their Dublin office, which would allow the company to circumvent high EU taxes. Apple and the Irish government both claim that no wrongdoing occurred and that Apple was required to pay the same fees as any other company. 
The price of spot gold continues to fluctuate slightly while remaining above the key $1,800 mark. It was up as high as $1,814.40 per ounce earlier on in the trading day but settled closer to $1,811.41. Gold futures closed the day at $1,813.80. Gold has increased in value by 19% this year, as investors have been turning to this haven. The coronavirus pandemic threatens inflation and the stability of investments such as stocks. Optimistic analysts believe that gold may reach $2,000 per ounce by the end of the year, given that the economy has undoubtedly been weakened with no signs of immediately bouncing back.
Bitcoin is experiencing a short-seller attack at the $9,000 support. Some high-profile Twitter accounts, including those of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama, were subject to a hack attack on Wednesday afternoon. All of the affected accounts sent out a tweet asking for bitcoin donations, which they promised to double and send back. It is believed that at least 12 bitcoins (valued at $110,000) were sent to the address indicated in the tweet before the speech was blocked, and the tweet was taken down. The damage was somewhat longer-lasting, though, and the price of bitcoin fell from $9243.61 to $9181.51.
