Wall Street Bounces Back With Nike On Front Foot

Wall Street's main indexes closed sharply higher on Tuesday, with strength in travel and tech shares as well as in Nike and Micron Technology following their earnings, as stocks rebounded from a coronavirus-fueled rout the session before.

The rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus has rattled stock markets around the world, triggering volatility in the final month of 2021, which has otherwise been a strong year for equities.

Gains in massive technology and tech-related stocks such as Microsoft and Apple lifted indexes on Tuesday, as did increases in economically sensitive groups such as energy. Travel-related stocks surged, with Carnival, Las Vegas Sands and Expedia Group among the top percentage gainers on the S&P 500.

“It is clearly a risk-on day," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston. "This is clearly, at least for the day, investors saying, 'You know what, we are going to be able to ride through this Omicron surge and come out the other side in pretty good shape.’”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 percent, to 35,493, the S&P 500 gained 1.78 percent, to 4,649 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.4 percent, to 15,341.

Nike shares rose 6.1 percent after the sports apparel company's results beat quarterly estimates for profit and revenue, and it said it was more confident that supply chain issues would ease in its next fiscal year.

Micron Technology shares jumped 10.5 percent after the chip company forecast second-quarter sales and profits will beat estimates with shortages easing in 2022.

“If Micron’s forecast is strong, that tells us broadly speaking that demand is strong across many different industries,” said King Lip, chief strategist at Baker Avenue Asset Management, adding that Micron's products "go into so many different industrial applications."

General Mills shares fell 4 percent after the consumer staples company missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit. (Reuters)