The broader markets ripped higher out of the gates in New York on Monday on positive news surrounding a Covid-19 vaccine, and tanker shares in the Oslo market surged higher in earlier trading.
Oil prices climbed 4% on Monday as traders prepared to see the highest Dow Jones Industrial Average since February — before coronavirus began to ravage nations outside of China. Tanker owner Frontline saw its shares rise 5% in European trading and Euronav was up 4%.
The Dow raced to just shy of a record 30,000 in the first minutes of trading, and plenty of shipping names piled on heavy gains.
Among the companies surging 10% or more in early trading were Scorpio Tankers, Frontline, Diamond S Shipping and Ardmore Shipping, all in the tanker sector.
The Dow fell back a bit in late-afternoon trading to 29,600, up about 4.5%.
Meanwhile shipping stocks continued to hang onto their gains.
In mainstream shipping, two product tanker owners led the way, with Scorpio Tankers and Ardmore Shipping both up about 16%. Crude tanker owners ran close behind, with Teekay Tankers and Frontline both adding about 12%. International Seaways climbed just over 10%.
In the cruise sector, Carnival Corp surged a whopping 35%, while Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line both added 27%.
All would figure to be helped by increased oil demand if a vaccine comes quickly and global lockdowns are shortened.
They were joined by Scorpio Bulkers, which, although in the dry trade, is transitioning to the wind turbine installation vessel sector — a trade that could be buoyed by the other major catalyst in the market this week: the apparent election of Democrat Joe Biden as US president.
A vaccine developed by Pfizer and partner BioNTech SE has proved 90% effective in protecting the first 94 subjects infected with Covid-19, according to freshly released results.
The broader market surge will be a new test for shipping stocks, with 10 owners reporting results this week. It was a test they did not pass last week.
US-listed shipping stocks failed to keep pace with the strongest week for shares since April in the days following the presidential election amid mounting evidence of a win by Biden.
While the 30 listings under coverage of investment bank Jefferies did manage an average 2% gain on the week, this was well behind the 7.3% rise in the S&P 500 and 6.9% by the Russell 2000, according to lead shipping analyst Randy Giveans.
The strongest sector performance came from trades generally expected to benefit most from a Biden presidency: containerships, with gains of 7%; and dry bulk, which rose 5%.
With the outlook far less certain for tankers and the rest of the petroleum energy patch, the gains were more muted at 2%.
Owners reporting this week include DHT Holdings and Teekay Tankers in the crude sector, Atlas Corp in the boxship market, Safe Bulkers in the dry trade and major gas names GasLog, Teekay LNG Partners, Dynagas LNG Partners and Navigator Holdings.
The Jefferies Shipping Index remains down nearly 43% on the year, with owners across operating sectors trading at steep discounts to net asset values.
Analysts expect a Biden presidency could boost containerships and dry bulk as tariffs against China and others come under review, with improved prospects for free trade.
Green energy projects, such as offshore wind, are also expected to benefit.
One of the top risers last week has one foot in dry bulk and another in the wind sector. Scorpio Bulkers gained nearly 10% on the week after seeing its shares depressed immediately following announcement of ramping up a disposal of more than 40 dry bulk units.
Danaos, a popular play on the boxship market, led all gainers at 13.6%. Bulker and containership owner Navios Maritime Partners climbed 10.3%.
Gas players brought up the rear on the week, Navigator Holdings shedding 9.8%, GasLog 5%, Dynagas 4.6% and StealthGas 3.7%.
This story has been amended to reflected trading prices in New York on Monday afternoon.
