(New York) The New York Stock Exchange continued its momentum on Tuesday, after its strong session the day before, less worried about the dangerousness of the Omicron variant.
At around 10:10 a.m., the Dow Jones index was advancing 1.38%, the NASDAQ surging 2.59% and the S&P 500 climbing 1.88%.
Monday, the Dow Jones had posted one of its best sessions of the year gaining 1.87% to 35,227.03 points, after the fears of the previous week with the appearance of Omicron.
The NASDAQ advanced 0.93% to 15,225.15 points and the Broader S&P 500 Index climbed 1.17% to 4,591.67 points.
“We have learned a lot during this pandemic,” said Art Hogan of National Securites, stressing that “the impact of each wave of COVID-19 cases and each new variant was lower than the previous one”.
“Our health system has produced vaccines and therapies at breakneck speed and will likely continue to improve in the weeks and months to come,” added the analyst, reflecting the optimism of many operators.
For Schwab analysts, the markets were “supported by positive preliminary data suggesting that the Omicron variant may not be as serious as the previous ones, but the effectiveness of existing vaccines and treatments is still uncertain.”
Market volatility also reflected “signals from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that the Central Bank will adopt a more aggressive pace of decreasing monetary support which will open the door to a possible rate hike earlier in 2022,” said for his part Patrick O’Hare.
The rates on 10-year Treasury bills remained strong at 1.44% against 1.43% the day before.
Among the indicators, the US trade deficit narrowed in October on the back of a rebound in exports.
NASDAQ heavyweights, Apple (+ 3% to $ 170) and Tesla (+ 3.80% to $ 1,046) pulled up the index where technology stocks are concentrated.
Semiconductor maker Intel jumped 5.74% to $ 53.92. The group has announced that it intends to bring its Israeli subsidiary Mobileye, which specializes in autonomous driving technologies, to Wall Street in mid-2022.
American Airlines gained 2.43%. Its boss, Doug Parker, a veteran of the aviation industry, gives way to his lieutenant after having managed the American company for five years.
Showing renewed investor confidence in economic activity and travel despite the threat of the Omicron variant, stocks of airlines as a whole continued to climb (Delta + 2%, United Airlines + 95%).
The shares of the auto parts chain, Autozone, climbed (+ 2.26% to 1,922 dollars) after posting amazing results with sales up 13.6% in the first quarter of its fiscal year, well above expectations.
Autozone has taken advantage of the tendency for motorists to maintain and repair their cars as the new and used car market is congested and expensive.