A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open for Wall Street Monday as investors prepared for the last trading week of 2021 by assessing what threat the spread of the Omicron variant might have on the global economy.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 futures were rising 0.2% and Nasdaq futures were up 0.27%.
Stocks finished Thursday with gains and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to close at a record high of 4,725, its first all-time closing high since Dec. 10.
All three major stock indexes finished the holiday-shortened week solidly higher. Markets were closed Friday for the Christmas holiday.
Asian stocks closed mixed Monday, while European stocks kicked off the session to the downside.
In the United States, the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has pushed daily virus cases ahead of those fueled by the Delta variant over the summer, according to CNN. Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights by Sunday afternoon and delayed nearly 4,000 others to, from and within the U.S. as Covid spikes created staffing shortages. Bloomberg reported that new cases of coronavirus in New York state surged to an all-time high on Christmas Eve.
Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said that while markets have “priced in” that Omicron is a less virulent strain of Covid-19, the “disruption to goods and services from isolating workers, notably air travel, seems to be the main fallout so far.”
But Halley said that likely would only cause “short-term nerves” and he sees the “global recovery story for 2022 still on track.’
The corporate calendar for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day will be quiet. No major companies are scheduled to report earnings or meet with analysts. Economic data also will be light, except for some reports on the U.S. housing market.
Here are some stocks on the move Monday:
United Airlines (UAL) declined 3% as carriers canceled thousands of flights over the Christmas weekend as Covid cases surged. Delta Air Lines (DAL) fell 2.2% and American Airlines (AAL) declined 2.4%.
Cruise companies such as Carnival (CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) also posted losses in premarket trading.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
