US stock indices rose on the first sessions of 2022, amid focus on the pandemic developments, after the recent spike in infections.
Several European countries have recently seen record spike in daily coronavirus infections due to the Omicron variant.
The World Health Organization recently warned that Omicron, spreading at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases
Investors fear the return of lockdown restrictions in major economies, which foreshadows a slowdown in the global economic recovery and demand for commodities and metals.
The US Department of Labor will release the monthly jobs report this week, in addition to a slew of cooperate earning reports.
As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 0.1% or 12 points to 36,350 as of 15:07 GMT, and S&P 500 rose 0.1% or 6 points to 4,772, while Nasdaq rose 0.5% or 77 points to 15,722.