Health-care companies rose sharply, as investors bet the sector would thrive no matter what course the Covid-19 pandemic took from here.

The SPDR Select Sector Health Care exchange-traded fund, which tracks the health-care industry group of the Standard & Poor's 500, came within 5% of its all-time highs, trading above $100. Inovio Pharmaceuticals reported positive preliminary results from the first-phase trial of its vaccine candidate for the new coronavirus, citing good indications for the vaccine's safety and potential to protect against the virus in a small initial study.

Anthony Fauci, the top-ranking infectious-disease doctor from the National Institutes of Health, said the U.S. is now recording about 40,000 new cases a day of the new coronavirus, and that "it could go up to 100,000 a day" if people continue to flout advice on social distancing and face masks.

The Food and Drug Administration released guidance Tuesday outlining conditions for approving a Covid-19 vaccine, including that any vaccine be at least 50% more effective than a placebo in preventing the disease, a standard benchmark for flu vaccines.


 Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com