The Wall Street market was mixed after a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) presented evidence that the Omicron variant had only mild symptoms than the previous variant.
The Dow Jones Industrial average index rose 247.62 points or 0.68% at 36,832.68 as a result of a boost by banking stocks and the industry sector after concerns about the Omicron variant continued to ease.
However, the S&P 500 index was down 4.02 points or 0.08% at 4,792.54 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 258.67 points or 1.63% at 15,574.13 as it was dragged down by declines in heavyweights such as Amazon.com, Microsoft Corp, Nvidia Corp and Tesla Inc.
According to National Securities New York’s head of market strategy, Art Hogan, the first few days of the new year will see the influx of new money and will lead to less uncertainty as many are making decisions in rebalancing portfolios.
In the meantime, the WHO reported that despite the ‘rapid’ spread of the Omicron variant the symptoms indicated were moderate and indirectly it gave little hope that it was not as severe as the previous variant which resulted in many deaths.
In addition, the minutes of the meeting on the central bank's discussions on ending the bond purchase plan in 2022 which will see a rate hike of 3 times this year will be released on Wednesday.
