markets

Wall Street closed up 492 points after a relatively stable session of sideways trading near its previous record high. Tech stocks lead the markets higher for a second day, and Nasdaq notches its best day since March, closing up 3 points. WTI crude continued its advance settling at 71.51. Gold remained at the 1785 range, and silver traded mostly sideways around the 22.50 range.

The DOW made a 200 point upwards gap at the opening and remained near its session highs for the day. The US dollar remains above 96.36 while the crypto Bitcoin slipped to 50400.

Major U.S. and International markets closed up today recovering somewhat from last week’s train wreck. The DOW closed up 1.87%, NASDAQ up 0.93% and the S&P up 1.17%. The markets continue to show volatility based on the uncertainty over the potential impact of the COVID Omicron variant which the weekend’s headlines show it likely will not cause severe illness. Oil prices were 4.9% higher at $69.49 per barrel. Gold stands at $1,788. Bitcoin closed up at $50,474.

The DOW closed up 618 points as market volatility from omicron continues but remains down 1175 points from the November 26 Omicron scare selloff. Today’s green volume is higher than yesterday appearing some BTFDer are buying making it difficult to determine if the selloff has finished or a bit more to go. WTI crude settled at 66.82 remaining far below the 85 plus high of several sessions ago. The selloff volume seen on the 26th. was not nearly as high as it could have been indicating much of the selling was from Robinhood-type investors.