U.S. stocks end up higher as investors set aside Omicron concerns.
NEW YORK, December 22 - Reuters -- U.S stock indexes closed broadly higher on Wednesday after investors cheered positive economic data and the White House said it was resuming talks on a massive social spending and climate change bill with a holdout senator.
The market gained throughout the trading session, overcoming fears about the Omicron COVID 19 variant, and was pushed upward by improving consumer confidence and gross domestic product growth. The positive swing continued Tuesday when stocks recouped losses.
With COVID fears there is not as much worry as before, said Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist for Commonwealth Financial Network. It may not have an impact on the economy. U.S. President Joe Biden said that we won't go back to lockdown. The White House said on Wednesday it would continue talks with Senator Joe Manchin, who delivered what appeared to be a fatal blow to Biden's Build Back Better bill over the weekend, but he said he wouldn't support it.
Gaggar stated that the December volatility has been much higher than usual, and that her conviction is that the Santa Claus rally is slightly lower this year. The last five trading days of the year and the first two of the year are when stocks are higher, as well as the last five trading days of the year. If Santa doesn't come, it could cause a bear market, according to an article from LPL Financial.
The riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro recovered against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday while U.S Treasury traders discounted the threat of long-term inflation as the yield curve flattened.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by 0.74% to 35,753. The S&P 500 gained 1.02% to 4,696 while the S&P 500 gained 1.02%. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.18%, to 15,521. The MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe increased by 0.94%.
Concerns about COVID 19 dampened demand, as fears of tight supply and drawdowns in the United States offset fears of tight supply and drawdowns in the United States. U.S. crude rose 2.66% to $73.01 per barrel and Brent was at $75.56, up 2.14% on the day.
A top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that holiday gatherings of over 40 people are not safe for people who have been vaccinated and got a booster dose, even though little is known about the severity or transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
Biden warned Americans about the risks of being unvaccinated and brought military personnel to support overwhelmed hospitals, saying it can be the difference between life and death.
The United States also authorized Pfizer Inc.'s antiviral COVID 19 pill for at-risk people aged 12 and above.
Currency market movements were muted as trading slowed before the Christmas holidays. The dollar index fell 0.375%.
The price of cryptocurrencies fell a bit, with the price of the digital currency roughly flat at $48,937. 70, still well below the all-time high of $69,000 hit in November.