Stocks are bouncing back after the initial panic sell on Friday after the announcement of the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. All of the major indexes were up in trading as of this afternoon, with tech stocks making some of the biggest overall movement, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Initial fears regarding the impact of Omicron seem to have faded for the time being, and while it has been dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, President Biden has said that there is no plan for economic lockdown in the foreseeable future. The president is instead leaning on the efficacy of vaccines, urging boosters and vaccines for those who are eligible; the announcement Friday by Moderna that it is tailoring a booster to the newest variant has sent the vaccine maker’s stocks skyrocketing.
“There’s less likelihood we see sustained downside from something like a variant because our ability to adapt to it is higher than it was,” said Hani Redha, a portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments. “The ability to tailor vaccines makes a huge difference.”
The S&P was up 1.5% in afternoon trading, the Nasdaq gained 2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 280 points (0.8%). The indexes have made up for most of what was lost in the panic selling on Friday, and are continuing to rise as news of Omicron so far only causing mild to moderate symptoms seems to have alleviated many concerns.
The technology sector was the one that was making the most overall movement and recovery within the S&P 500 with major players such as Microsoft gaining 2.4% and Apple rising 2.3%.
Investing in Top Performers With Invesco
Investors looking to harness the upward movement of the biggest companies within the S&P 500 should consider the Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF (XLG).
XLG seeks to track the S&P 500 Top 50 Index, an index that contains the 50 largest companies in the S&P 500 based on their float-adjusted market cap and is weighted on the float-adjusted market cap.
At least 90% of assets will be invested in the securities within the index, and XLG utilizes a full replication methodology to track the index.
The sector allocation is currently information technology at 39.01%, communication services at 16.99%, consumer discretionary at 15.10%, healthcare at 11.67, and several smaller sector allocations.
Top holdings include Microsoft (MSFT) at 11.57% weight, Apple (AAPL) at 11.50% weight, and Amazon.com (AMZN) at 7.13% weight.
XLG carries an expense ratio of 0.20% and currently has 52 holdings.
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