Stocks rebounded Tuesday as investors bought the dip from the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst day in eight months on renewed COVID concerns.
Many stocks that were hit the hardest on Monday regained their losses Tuesday, with airlines and cruise operators both climbing higher throughout the session. Shares of American Airlines
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Delta variant is now the dominant variant in the United States:
The more transmissible Delta variant, which first emerged in India, now accounts for about 83% of sequenced COVID-19 cases in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky told Senate lawmakers during a hearing on Tuesday.
That is a "dramatic increase" from 50% reported on July 3, Walensky said, with COVID-related deaths rising by nearly 48% since last week to an average of over 200 per day.
"To date, our data indicates that vaccines are available to neutralize the circulating variants in the United States and provide protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death," Walensky added. "The message from CDC remains clear: the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease and vaccination is the more powerful tool we have."
Jeff Bezos returns to Earth:
Amazon
"This is a tiny step of what Blue Origin is going to do. What we're really trying to do is build reusable space vehicles. It's the only way to build a road to space, and we need to build a road to space so that our children can build the future," Bezos told CNBC's Morgan Brennan after the flight. "If you want to be a space entrepreneur today, you have to do everything from the beginning. There's no real infrastructure that's at an affordable cost. So that's what we have to do, is build that kind of infrastructure and then future generations will get to rest of top of it."
Bezos said Tuesday that sales of Blue Origin space tourism flight tickets are "approaching $100 million" during a presentation after the flight.
Many estimate the new billionaire space movement, with Bezos joined by Virgin Galactic's
Here's how the market started trading soon after opening bell:
S&P 500 Index: +0.34% or +14.49 points to 4,272.98
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.60% or +202.34 points to 34,164.38
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.09% or +12.81 points to 14,287.80
Housing data comes in mixed:
U.S. homebuilding increased at a more-than-expected rate in June despite the high cost of lumber and the shortgages of both land and labor. However, building permits for the month sharply fell, demonstrating the market's current constraints.
Housing starts rose 6.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.643 million units in June, according to the Commerce Department's report on Tuesday. Data for May was revised lower to a rate of 1.546 million units from the previous 1.572 million units reported. Building permits for future projects fell 5.1% to a rate of 1.598 million units in June.
