Stocks – Europe Higher; Vaccine and Recovery Fund Hopes Help

European stock markets traded higher Wednesday, with investors buoyed by optimism about a coronavirus vaccine as well as the chance a key EU summit will lead to more stimulus. Helping the positive tone was the news that the first Covid-19 vaccine tested in people has shown promising early results. U.S. biotech firm Moderna 's (NASDAQ:MRNA  experimental Covid-19 vaccine was declared safe and generated “robust” immune responses in all 45 volunteers taking part in the study, according to early-stage human trial results published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday.