Dow soars 618 points as investors sidestep concerns of 2nd US Omicron case

• US stocks soared on Thursday as investors shrugged off concerns of a second Omicron case found in Minnesota.
• The Dow Jones soared more than 600 points while the S&P 500 surged more than 1.6%.
• Apple fell on concerns that it's experiencing slowing iPhone demand for the holiday season.

US stocks surged on Thursday as investors shrugged off concerns of the CDC identifying a second case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in a Minnesota man.

The man traveled to New York on November 19 for a convention, signalling that the variant has likely been spreading in the country for weeks undetected. There are still many questions unanswered about the variant, including how deadly and transmissible it is, and whether current vaccines protect against it.

Potentially boosting stocks on Thursday is President Biden's plans to avoid another round of economic shut downs to combat the new variant, and instead to prioritize a ramp up in vaccinations to protect individuals from the strain.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,577.27, up 1.42%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,640.58, up 1.82% (618.54 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 15,381.32, up 0.83%

According to JPMorgan, investors should take advantage of the recent sell-off and buy stocks as the Omicron variant could actually hasten the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple fell as much as 3% on Thursday after a report from Bloomberg said Apple is experiencing a decline in demand for its iPhones this holiday season. Shares of Apple pared its losses and finished the day down just 0.40%.

The metaverse investment theme is growing in popularity, with Ark Invest's Cathie Wood calling it a multi-trillion dollar opportunity that will infiltrate every sector.

Sales of virtual land in the metaverse hit $106 million last week, with The Sandbox platform taking a big lead from other NFT platforms.

Insider sales have soared to a record high this year, with Elon Musk selling more than $10 billion of Tesla last month. Jeff Bezos is also selling Amazon stock, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently sold half of his stake in the software giant.

Fidelity is launching its own spot bitcoin ETF in Canada this week, even as the SEC continues to only favor futures-based bitcoin ETFs.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as 2.50% to $67.21 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped as much as 2.25% to $70.42 per barrel.

Gold fell as much as 0.89% to $1,768.00 per ounce.