Street sweep

Major indexes rally after Monday dive

The Dow rose 550 points on Tuesday, erasing most of a massive sell-off that had slammed the markets a day earlier on fears that the coronavirus’ new Delta variant could derail the economic recovery.

At the close of regular trading Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 549.95 points, or 1.6 percent, at 34,511.99. The S&P 500 ended 1.5 percent higher than its Monday finish, and the Nasdaq was up 1.6 percent at the close.

That’s after the Dow closed 725 points lower Monday in a punishing session that was its worst since October, at one point shaving nearly 950 points off the bluechip index in frenzied trades.

“A lot of investors are getting in on the dip,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, told The Post. “Investors wanted to take advantage of how badly stocks got beaten back yesterday.”

Tuesday’s rally was the largest gain for the Dow in a month. The Dow briefly hit a new high above 35,000 last week and all major indices are up at least 14 percent year to date.

Travel stocks, which had been hit hard Monday amid worries that rising coronavirus cases could lead to more shutdowns, rebounded. Carnival, American Airlines and United Airlines all were up more than 6 percent.

Energy stocks like Exxon and Chevron, which dropped Monday on news the OPEC+ nations agreed to expand oil production, were off their lows.

But fears about coronavirus, economic growth, oil prices and inflation remain.

Over the last week, new cases have climbed as the ultra-contagious Delta variant becomes the dominant strain. While cases are primarily spreading among populations with low vaccination rates, even states with a majority of residents vaccinated, like California, are implementing new restrictions.

And inflation rates are at their highest in 13 years, according to consumer price index data from June.