The broader markets gained amid positive comments on the Covid variant omicron from the White House's chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He said the preliminary data shows that omicron is less severe than what people were concerned about two weeks ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 646.95 points, or 1.87%, to 35,227.03. The S&P 500 was up 1.17%, and Nasdaq gained 0.93%.
All of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 finished higher. The energy and industrials sectors outperformed. The travel relating stocks rebounded sharply. Airlines and Cruises shares all surged between 5% - 10%. Delta Air Line Inc. jumped 6.25%, Norwegian Cruise Line Holding Ltd. surged by near 10%. The tech giants were all up. Apple and Meta Platforms rose 2.03% and 3.55% respectively. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet finished less than 1% higher.
Meanwhile, the laggards are among healthcare, chipmakers, and EV stocks. Moderna tumbled 13%, Pfizer Inc declined 5.33%. Nvidia and AMD fell 2.15% and 3.34% respectively. Tesla slid 0.57%, and Lucid slumped 5.4%.
The risk sentiment swings on the omicron updates in the past 2 weeks. The outlook of stocks markets is being expected to be choppy for the rest of the week. Investors need to stay cautious. The US November CPI is to be released on Friday, which might bring another Fed-led wave to the financial markets.
The crude oil futures jumped 5.36%, to $69.8 after Saudi Arabia raised the selling prices to U.S. and Asian countries.
The gold futures fell $3.7, to $1780.1 per ounce.
The 10-year US Treasury yield stayed as low s 1.438%.
VIX fell 10.82%, to 27.35.
