S&P 500 ends lower to snap four-day win streak, while Dow extends rally in 2021’s final week of trading

 .S. stock indexes closed mostly lower Tuesday, with the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite snapping a four-day winning streak, as some investors looked toward 2022 with optimism, despite record COVID-19 cases resulting from the spread of the omicron variant.

How did stock indexes trade?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 95.83 points, or 0.3%, to end at 36,398.21, its second highest close ever and booking a fifth straight day of gains, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
• The S&P 500  slipped 4.84 points, or 0.1%, to close at 4,786.35, its second highest finish ever after setting an intraday record at 4,807.02.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index  comp fell 89.54 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 15,781.72.

On Monday , the S&P 500 rose 65.40 points, or 1.4%, to 4,791.19, its 69th record finish for 2021. The Dow climbed 351.82 points, or 1%, to end at 36,302.38, its fourth-highest close in history. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 217.89 points, or 1.4%, to close at 15,871.26.

What drove markets?

Investors are betting that the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus won’t capsize economic growth, even if expectations for another powerful run-up in stocks seems doubtful following outsize gains in 2021.

The market is expecting omicron to be “pretty mild” despite being highly contagious, anticipating that the variant is unlikely to lead to “serious lockdowns” in the U.S., said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, in a phone interview Tuesday. Meanwhile, holiday-shopping sales looked “pretty good,” giving the stock market some momentum in the final stretch of 2021.

On Monday, the market set off on its best so-called santa cruse ralluy, which tends to show up for U.S. stocks in the final week of December and first two trading sessions of January, in about two decades.

“It seems that last week’s reports confirming that the omicron coronavirus variant is not as deadly as prior strains, kept market participants willing to increase their exposure this week as well,” said Charalambos Pissouros, head of research at JFD Group.

While the omicron variant spreads around the globe, wreaking havoc on holiday travel due to rising cases among airline staff, investors may have taken heart from news Monday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut  its recommended COVID-19 isolation time to five days, from 10, if affected individuals are symptom-free.