Nasdaq soars 3% as US stocks erase nearly all Omicron losses

• US stocks soared on Tuesday as fears surrounding the Omicron virus faded.
• Early data from GlaxoSmithKline shows that its antiviral drug retains activity against the variant.
• Oil prices surged on Tuesday as investors now see little chance of Omicron disrupting the economic recovery from the pandemic.

US stocks surged on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq jumping over 3% and recovering all of last week’s losses as fears of the COVID-19 Omicron variant begin to recede to the back of investors’ minds.

Early data from GlaxoSmithKline is likely helping ease the concerns, as the drug maker said its antiviral treatment retains in vitro activity against the full Omicron spike protein. That data lines up with prior comments from Merck and Pfizer, with both saying last week they expect their antiviral pill to work against all COVID-19 variants.

With Omicron now seen as having a diminishing chance of disrupting the economic recovery from a global pandemic, oil prices surged about 2%. 

Here’s where US indexes stood after the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Tuesday:

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is having a tough year, as most of its fund strategies are in a bear market even as the broader stock market is less than 1% away from record highs. Six of Ark’s eight funds are in the red, with its flagship Disruptive Innovation fund down 24% year-to-date.

The recovery in cryptocurrencies was mixed on Tuesday following their steep weekend sell-off. Bitcoin is barely above $50,000 but certain metaverse tokens are surging higher, including Terra and Polkadot.

Katie Stockton of Fairlead Strategies urged caution to cryptocurrency investors that may want to buy the current dip, as she sees the potential for more downside ahead based on several technical indicators.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t participating in the crypto volatility, as she explained earlier this week that she doesn’t own bitcoin because she wants to be an unbiased lawmaker.

The boom in cryptocurrencies has fueled a surge in NFT sales this year, with total volumes surpassing $12 billion, and weekly sales hitting $293 million last week. These were last week’s top 5 digital art collection sales.

Shares of MongoDB soared as much as 21% on Tuesday after the cloud provider surpassed third-quarter earnings estimates. The company saw its Atlas revenue surge 84% as Coinbase migrates to its platform.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped as much as 3.15% to $71.68 per barrel. Brent crude, oil’s international benchmark, rose as much as 2.82% to $75.14 per barrel.

Gold rose as much as 0.38% to $1,786.30 per ounce.