Futures resume their year-end rally in light trading; Tesla soars

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Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open lower on Wednesday, as caution set in amid thin trading volumes after daily COVID-19 infections in the United States reached a record high, while shares of heavyweight Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) rose nearly 1%. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, exercised all of his options that expire next year, effectively ending his stock sales. Its stock is up 54% year to date, following a 743 percent increase in 2020.

Some early studies suggested that the Omicron variant had a lower risk of hospitalization than the Delta strain, which has helped investors look past the travel disruptions caused by the pandemic and propelled the S&; P 500 to new highs this week. U.S carriers Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) Group canceled hundreds of flights again on Tuesday as daily tally of infections in the United States surged.

“The market thinks that Omicron is going to hit just a few sectors of the whole economy, and most stocks will be good for that,” said Luiz Pacheco, wealth advisor at Brainvest Wealth Management based in Miami.

At 8:22 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 4 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.09%. Typically, the final five trading days of the year and the first two of the subsequent year are seasonally strong for U.S. stocks.