U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, thereby sustaining Wednesday’s gains after an initial wave of concerns regarding the new Omicron variant damaged investors’ confidence. While vaccine makers and epidemiologists are still in the midst of assessing the latest COVID strain’s severity and transmissibility, investors’ anxiety has eased up over the past couple of days.
The S&P 500 gained 1.4% during Thursday’s regular session, thereby marking the index’s largest rise for the seven-week period following October 14. The blue-chip index’s futures rose by 1.4%, while Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures gained 0.27% and 0.22% respectively.
Jim Smiegiel, SEI chief investment officer reflected on the recent rebound, explaining: “I think the market is now switching gears a little bit and perhaps lessening the intensity on the potential for negative outcomes. The big issue still remains more about the world government’s reaction to the variant and what that means from a lockdown perspective. And that’s what the market is still kind of struggling with at this stage.”
Investors are also awaiting the latest monthly jobs report, which the U.S. Labor Department is due to release on Friday. This report is expected to show the return of half a million jobs, with the unemployment rate dropping to 4.5%; the lowest since March 2020.
