Stocks rallied to start the week on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounding from its losses posted in previous weeks, as investors became encouraged by preliminary data that the Omicron COVID variant may be less severe than prior mutations. The Dow rose nearly 650 points by the end of the session, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both increased by about 1%.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.17% or +53.24 points to 4,591.67
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.87% or +646.95 points to 35,227.03
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.93% or +139.68 points to 15,225.15
Fauci says early data shows Omicron may be less severe than Delta:
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday that early data about the severity of COVID Omicron variant is "a bit encouraging". However, Fauci cautioned that more data will be needed to draw a complete risk profile on Omicron.
"Although it's too early to make any definitive statements about [Omicron], thus far it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it," Fauci told CNN. "But we've really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe, or really doesn't cause any severe illness comparable to Delta, but thus far the signals are a bit encouraging regrading the severity."
SEC opens probe into Tesla over whistleblower claims on solar panel defects:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) over a whistleblower complaint that the company failed to notify its shareholders and the public of the risks associated with solar panel system defects, accord to a letter from the agency, Reuters reports.
The probe is in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Steven Henkes, a former Tesla field quality manager, who filed a whistleblower complaint in 2019.
In the SEC complaint, Henkes said Tesla and SolarCity did not disclose its "liability and exposure to property damage, risk of injury of users, fire etc to shareholders" prior and after the solar company's acquisition by the electric vehicle maker back in 2016, Reuters reports. The EV company also failed to notify its customers that defective electrical connectors could lead to fires, according to the complaint, Reuters reports.
The news of the report initially sent Tesla shares down as much as 6.4% on Monday, which was more than 20% from the EV's recent 52-week high, meaning the company has fallen into a bear market.
Here's how market benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.51% or +23.24 points to 4,561.67
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.97% or +336.57 points to 34,916.65
Nasdaq Composite Index: -0.21% or -32.32 points to 15,046.07