Prominent attendees at the event included Adobe Chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su, and Moderna Chairman Noubar Afeyan.
Kariko and Weissman are credited with developing the key technology that was used to create the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
The Dow closed in positive territory with economically sensitive sectors such as industrials, materials and transports providing a boost, while tech and tech-adjacent megacap stocks pulled the Nasdaq to a lower close.
Stock markets have been volatile this year, pulling back in February after a strong January as investors tried to figure out what the US Federal Reserve will do with interest rates.
Geopolitical tensions were ever present with North Korea firing more missiles and talk of Russia ramping up attacks in Ukraine before Friday's one- year anniversary of the invasion.
Rishi Sunak was co-founder of London-based investment firm Theleme Partners but he quit to join politics in 2013. The investment firm he co-founded was managed by a blind trust, which had invested in Moderna.
Before the market opened, US economic data showed retail sales and producer prices declined more than expected in December.
Moderna's shares rose over 8% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the data, which the companies hailed as spectacular. Merck's shares were up nearly 2% at $111.12.
Wall Street's main indexes had come under pressure in recent days, with the S&P 500 shedding 3.6% since the beginning of December on expectations of a longer rate-hike cycle and downbeat economic views from some top company executives.
Moderna Inc's top scientist said on Tuesday that the vaccine maker has learned how to better recruit from diverse populations for its clinical trials from running its COVID-19 vaccine studies
In a statement late on Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it authorized ten batches of Moderna's updated booster shots.





