Markets turn cautious, reversing early gain

Another roller-coaster ride on Wall Street whipsawed investors Wednesday as an early market rally reversed course by midafternoon, piling up more losses for stocks.

The S&P 500 had been up 1.9 percent in the early going following some better-thanexpected readings on the U.S. economy, but the gains gradually gave way to a 1.2 percent skid. The afternoon reversal is the latest dizzying move for Wall Street’s benchmark, which sank 2.3 percent on Friday for its worst loss since February, only to then rise 1.3 percent on Monday and then fall 1.9 percent on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a 1.3 percent loss, while the Nasdaq composite fell 1.8 percent. Both indexes had been solidly higher until the market’s afternoon swoon.

The wild movements are partly the result of investors struggling to handicap how much damage the newest coronavirus variant will do to the economy. Markets were already headed lower Wednesday afternoon when the White House announced that the first case of the omicron variant had been found in the U.S., in a person who recently had returned from South Africa.