Wall Street stabilizes after omicron slide
NEW YORK — Wall Street steadied itself Monday after last week’s stock market slide caused by the newest coronavirus variant, with investors now waiting for more clues about just how much damage it may do to the economy.
The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent to recover more than half of its drop from Friday, which was its worst since February. Bond yields and crude oil also recovered chunks of what they lost in traders’ knee-jerk reaction to run toward safety and away from risky investments.
With vaccines in hand — and with the benefit of a weekend to mull whether Friday’s sharp market moves were overdone — analysts said the world may be in better position to weather this newest potential wave. Plus, Friday’s tumble for markets may have been exacerbated by many traders taking the day off following Thanksgiving.
But while the market steadied itself, uneasiness still hangs over it due to the discovery of the variant now known as omicron. The variant appears to spread more easily, and countries around the world have put up barriers to travel in hopes of stemming it. Still to be seen is how effective vaccines currently available are for the variant, and how long it may take to develop new omicron-specific vaccines.
Given the uncertainty, the Dow Jones Industrial Average wavered between a loss of 3 points and a gain of 388 points through the day. It ended with a gain of 236.60 points, or 0.7 percent, at 35,135.94.
The most powerful lift for stocks came from those that have been able to grow strongly almost regardless of the economy’s strength or pandemic’s pall. Gains for five big tech-oriented stocks — Microsoft, Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Nvidia — alone accounted for more than a third of the S&P 500’s rise. The gains for tech-oriented stocks also helped to drive the Nasdaq composite up a market-leading 1.9 percent.
Moderna jumped 11.8 percent for the biggest gain in the S&P 500, adding to an even bigger gain from Friday, after it said it’s testing the effectiveness of its vaccine against omicron. Its CEO said in a televised interview on ABC that it could take two to three months for a vaccine developed specifically for the variant to begin manufacturing.
Travel-related stocks started the day with gains but fell back as more caution filtered into the market and as travel restrictions around the world remained in force. They ended mixed after President Joe Biden said he wasn’t considering a widespread U.S. lockdown. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines closed slightly lower, while cruise line operators Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line notched gains.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 60.65 points to 4,655.27, while the Nasdaq added 291.18 points to 15,782.83. The Russell 2000 index of small companies slipped 3.96 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,241.98.