Key Wall Street indexes are gaining ground in the last session for this week, as tomorrow the market will be closed due to the Christmas holidays, with the buying mood fueling the optimism that the world economies will not be derailed by the Omicron mutation. of the coronavirus that concerns the markets and governments of the planet.
Despite the fact that today the trading volume is expected to be limited due to the festive season, the S&P 500 is moving from opening to new historical highs, as investors assimilate a new series of macroeconomic data announced earlier in the US.
New data released on the other side of the Atlantic on inflation, commodity orders and new pre-market unemployment benefits do not seem to have much of an impact on investor sentiment, although they were mixed.
It is noted that the new applications for unemployment benefits remained at the same levels as the previous week, at 205,000 for the five-day period ended on December 18, while orders for durable goods increased by 2.5% last month.
Meanwhile, Americans’ consumer spending and personal income rose sharply in November, but inflation jumped again. In particular, consumer spending rose 0.6% last month, while personal income rose 0.4%, but on an adjusted basis for inflation, spending was unchanged in November, while disposable income fell 0.2%. .
The data showed that the price index for personal consumption expenditure, the Federal Reserve’s preferred index of inflation, climbed to 5.7% in November from 5% the previous month.
However, fears of inflation still lingering in the forefront did not stop investors’ “festive mood” in the wake of two British studies released on Wednesday that suggested the Omicron mutation may be milder than the Delta. while South African doctors estimate that the latest increase in cases may have peaked, with fewer hospitalizations and more serious cases.
The positive mood is also strengthened by the latest on the pandemic front, with the approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Pfizer coron (yesterday) and Merck (today) pills, as well as AstraZeneca announced on Thursday that a laboratory study had shown that a booster dose of its coronavirus vaccine was effective against the Omicron mutation.
Thus, on the board, the Dow Jones industrial average adds 209 points or 0.59% and moves to 35,963.21 points, while the broader S&P 500 strengthens by 0.53% to 4,721.52 points, moving much higher than the previous record at the closing of 4,712.02 units on December 10. The technology Nasdaq writes gains of 0.37% and moves to 15,579.60 points.
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