U.S. stocks notched the third day of gains as investors continue to monitor the COVID-19 variant and its potential impact on the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 34 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were higher by 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively. This after the S&P 500 posted its best day since March on Tuesday.
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS showed 11.03 million job openings in October, the highest number of openings since July, when businesses were looking to fill 11.1 million positions. It marked an increase from September when there were an upwardly revised 10.6 million open jobs.
Dow members Goldman Sachs and Salesforce led the decline among the 30 stocks, while Apple notched a fresh record.
In corporate news, shares of Pfizer rose after the company, along with its partner BioNTech said a third dose of their vaccine can ward against the variant.
Comments Monday from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said early indications suggest the omicron variant may be less dangerous than the delta variant, which has encouraged investors.
Oil also ticked higher to the $72 per barrel level.
Campbell Soup shares were in focus after reiterating full-year profit and sales goals while also warning that higher costs may hit margins as inflation rises.
In deal news, Stanley Black and Decker is selling most of its Security assets to Securitas for $3.2 billion. The stock is having the best day since June of 2020.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1% and China’s Shanghai Composite index climbed 1.2%.
Japan downgraded its growth estimate for the last quarter to minus 3.6% from an earlier reported contraction of 3.0%. The change reflected weaker consumer and public demand and trade and lower levels of private inventories.
Japan’s Parliament is expected to approve a proposed record stimulus package of 56 trillion yen ($490 billion), including cash handouts and aid to ailing businesses, to help the economy out of the doldrums worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.
