Stocks Close Near Session Highs; Dollar Retreats: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks closed near session highs on speculation that the omicron coronavirus variant won’t derail the economic recovery.

The S&P 500 climbed for a second day, the dollar fell and bonds were little changed. Pfizer Inc. advanced as its Covid-19 pill gained clearance for emergency use in the U.S. Amazon.com Inc. rebounded, following a drop of more than 1% after Bloomberg News reported the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is pushing forward with antitrust scrutiny of the company’s cloud computing business.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes increased for a third consecutive month in November, while consumer confidence rose in December by more than expected as Americans’ outlook for employment and the economy improved. Omicron may be less likely to land patients in the hospital than the delta strain, according to a trio of studies of preliminary data.

“Many investors believe that omicron would only have a temporary impact on the economic activity and should not be a problem for the overall positive trend in equities,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Group.

What to watch this week:

• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks Thursday
• U.S. initial jobless claims, personal income, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, new home sales on Thursday
• Friday: U.S. markets are closed. European markets close earlier

For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%
• The MSCI World index rose 1%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
• The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1334
• The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.3359
• The Japanese yen was unchanged at 114.10 per dollar

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.45%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to -0.29%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 0.89%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.5% to $72.93 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 0.9% to $1,805.30 an ounce

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.