Thursday, December 23, 2021
S&P 500 Ends at Record Ahead of Christmas Holiday. U.S. stocks ended higher Thursday in the final trading session ahead of the Christmas holiday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record as investors appeared more confident the economy won’t be derailed by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The S&P 500 rose 29 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 4726, exceeding its previous record finish of 4,712 set on Dec. 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 197 points, or 0.6%, to end near 35,951, while the Nasdaq Composite gained around 131 points, or 0.9%, to close at 15,653. The S&P 500 logged a 2.3% weekly rise, while the Dow rose 1.7%, and the Nasdaq rallied 3.2%.
Omicron’s Economic Impact Seen as Fleeting
The Omicron variant has driven Covid-19 cases to record highs in the past few weeks in cities across the U.S., upending holiday travel plans and driving workers out of offices and shoppers out of stores.
But while some aspects of the economy are registering a hit—showing a drop in consumer demand or shutting down due to a shortage of workers—others are shrugging off Omicron as barely more than a blip on the radar. The mixed picture suggests that while the virus will almost certainly exert a drag on economic growth in the near term, any broader impacts are likely to be short-lived.
Particularly in big cities and highly populated areas where Omicron has been spreading the fastest, the slowdowns in activity for in-person services are already clear. Employees working at service-sector businesses in New York, for example, saw a nearly 23% drop in average weekly hours worked between November and December, from 28.2 to 21.8 hours, according to data from payroll processor Gusto. Over the same time period last year, average weekly hours increased by nearly 18% in the run-up to the winter holidays, Gusto said.
FDA Authorizes Pfizer Antiviral Pill to Fight Covid
The Food and Drug Administration this week authorized the Covid-19 antiviral pill from Pfizer, adding a new weapon against the pandemic as the Omicron wave crashes into the U.S.
Pfizer‘s drug, called Paxlovid, decreased the risk of hospitalization and death in a trial of unvaccinated, high-risk adults by 89% when taken within three days of when symptoms began.
Biden Offering Free At-Home Tests and More Aid for Hospitals as Omicron Surges
President Joe Biden this week announced new steps to ease Omicron’s burden on the nation’s healthcare system, making 500 million free at-home tests available to Americans who request them and preparing to send military doctors and nurses to hospitals in need.
In a White House address, Biden spoke about the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, urging Americans to be vigilant but not panic as they gather for the holidays.
Personal Spending Rises Slowly and Consumer Sentiment Is Strong
Consumer spending rose slowly in November as shoppers began the holiday season wrestling with inflation fears and concerns over surges in Covid-19. U.S. consumer spending rose 0.6%, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That compares with a 1.4% rise in October.
Meanwhile, consumer sentiment was strong in December. The final reading of the index of consumer sentiment compiled by the University of Michigan Thursday morning stood at 70.6 for December, slightly above the preliminary estimate of 70.4 and up from 67.4 in November.
Merck’s Antiviral Pill Gets Emergency Use OK for Some Covid Patients
The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Merck‘s antiviral Covid-19 pill for treatment in certain patients.
The pill is authorized for treatment in adults age 18 and older who are at high risk of hospitalization or death. It’s limited to situations where other FDA-authorized treatments are inaccessible or not clinically appropriate.
Holiday Travel Demand Is Staying Strong. It Looks Immune to Omicron for Now.
The Omicron coronavirus variant is rapidly spreading across the U.S. just as the holiday season’s busiest travel period gets under way.
However, there appear to be no signs yet of the new variant significantly affecting air travel in the U.S. in the run up to Christmas.
Jobless Claims Creep Above 200,000 but Hold Steady With the Previous Week
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits last week was 205,000, unchanged from a week earlier. Economists surveyed by FactSet expected jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 18, to check in at 205,000.
Jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 11 were revised down to 205,000 from 206,000, according to the Labor Department.
GM Wants to Electrify Your Old, Gas-Powered Truck
General Motors this week announced a plan to offer electric-vehicle component sets that would allow anyone, mainly businesses, to turn older, gasoline-powered vehicles into electric vehicles.
Converting a car isn’t easy and will take, for the most part, trained professionals. Still, for some vehicle owners—ranging from hot-rod enthusiasts to commercial-fleet operators—converting old vehicles from gas to electric powertrains could yield significant cost savings.
Intel’s $9 Billion Sale of Memory Unit Approved by Chinese Regulator
South Korea’s SK Hynix said this week that it had received merger clearance from the Chinese antitrust authority for its acquisition of Intel Corp‘s NAND memory chip business.
Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker after Samsung, added that it has now secured “all required merger clearances in eight jurisdictions from the relevant competition authorities.”
New Home Sales Rose in November
New-home sales increased in November—and so did prices. Data released Thursday morning by the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that housing demand is still high heading into the new year.
New homes in November were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 744,000—a 12.4% increase from October’s revised rate of 662,000. The rate of homes sold was the highest since April, according to the data, which included revisions for August, September, and October.
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