US stocks rise as investors try to claw back some losses after Omicron sell-off
- The Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose Tuesday after a selloff in the previous session.
- The Biden administration will send millions of coronavirus tests kits to homes across America as Omicron spreads.
US stocks rose Tuesday as investors looked to take advantage of prices beaten down in the previous session as the Omicron coronavirus strain continued to quickly spread worldwide.
All three of Wall Street's major indexes pushed higher, led by the Nasdaq Composite as the selloff in highly-valued tech stocks led that index down by more than 1% on Monday. Investors started Tuesday's session with news the Biden administration will purchase and send 500 million at-home coronavirus test kits as part of its response to the persistent pandemic.
"It looks like we are going to at least try for a turnaround this Tuesday," following news that Omicron is now the dominant variant in the US, said Bespoke Investment Group in a note. "If data released so far proves to be accurate, this is a good thing as this strain of COVID appears to be much weaker in severity than the Delta strain, even if it is more transmissible.
Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 4,608.97, up 0.9%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,241.79, up 0.89% (309.63 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 15,136.41, up 1.04%
Around the markets, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey says venture capital involvement means crypto users don't own Web3, or the coming iterations of the internet such as the metaverse.
Oil prices advanced. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.5% to $69.66 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.5% at $72.56, narrowing losses.
Gold edged up 0.1% to $1,797 per ounce. The 10-year yield rose 3 basis points to 1.453%.
Bitcoin picked up 4.4%, at $49,071.20.