It’s been a turbulent week on Wall Street, starting with a massive selloff over worries about the Delta variant. But by Friday, stocks were back up and each index closed at at record highs.
The Dow closed 0.7%, or 238 points, higher, finishing above 35,000 for the first time ever. The S&P and the Nasdaq both climbed 1%.
On Monday, the market was deep in the red and the Dow (INDU) recorded its worst day since last October. The S&P 500 (SPX) and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) logged their worst performances since May.
Investors, fearful that rising Covid-19 cases and the more infectious Delta variant would stifle the economic recovery, retreated from stocks and fled to the relative safety of government bonds.
“Although the variant has punctured the ‘vaccine euphoria’ that was prevalent in the market several months ago, investors seem convinced that economies will continue to open up gradually despite the new variant,” said Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Group, in a note to clients.
A preliminary reading of IHS Markit’s July purchasing managers’ index showed manufacturing at a record high for the data series, beating economists’ expectations.
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