Shares rose on Wall Street Tuesday as investors bought back after a loss the previous day sparked by concerns about the spread of a more contagious variant of COVID-19. The S&P 500 index rose 1.6% at 12:20 p.m. Eastern.
Shares rose on Wall Street Tuesday as investors bought back after a loss the previous day sparked by concerns about the spread of a more contagious variant of COVID-19.
The S&P 500 index rose 1.6% at 12:20 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 609 points, or 1.8%, to 34,574 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6%, its largest one-day decline since May.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks outperformed the other major indices, up 2.9%.
The spread of the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19 has become a problem child for investors and policy makers. The Centers for Disease Control said an estimated 83% of cases in the US are related to the Delta variant of the virus. While tens of millions of Americans have been vaccinated, there remains a significant percentage of Americans who are either reluctant or completely opposed to the idea of vaccination.
Los Angeles Country reintroduced a mandate for inner masks last weekend as the area’s infection rate rose again rapidly. Other parts of the country, like southern Missouri, are being inundated with COVID cases, putting new strains on hospitals.
Bond yields fell sharply on Monday amid fears that the strong economic recovery from the pandemic could be jeopardized by additional lockdowns or coronavirus cases. The yield on the 10-year government bond fell as low as 1.14% early Tuesday, but has reversed its course and has risen from 1.18% the previous day to 1.21%. Just under a week ago, the 10-year note traded with a yield of 1.33%.
“We are seeing a more dramatic expansion of what we have seen in the past few weeks that the market is looking for a narrative,” said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management.
Investors are looking for all sorts of clues to better assess the further course of the economic recovery. Everything from Federal Reserve comments to corporate outlook and economic data is being used to get a clearer picture of what the economy could look like for the rest of this year and through 2022.
Wall Street is also in the middle of the reporting season. IBM rose 2.8% after the company reported better-than-expected revenues and profits thanks to its cloud computing business. Hospital operator HCA Healthcare rose 14% after slightly beating Wall Street’s earnings and revenue projections for the second quarter.
Outside of revenue, drug dealers have taken some big steps after reportedly close to reaching a $ 26 billion settlement over opioid lawsuits. AmerisourceBergen was up 4.9% and McKesson was up 4%.
Damian J. Troise, The Associated Press
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