By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 eased from highs Wednesday, as investors weighed an upside surprise in monthly private job gains against ongoing concerns about the Omicron strain of Covid-19 after the U.S. reported its first case of the new variant. 

The Nasdaq gained 0.25 percent, or 20 points.

Officials from the U.S. Health Service confirmed Tuesday that the Omicron-type of Covid-19 had been identified in California. However, they stressed the need for more data to confirm how the strain can be transmitted and how well it is able to evade current vaccines.      

The November growth was 534,000, which is less than October’s 570,000 but still higher than expectations of 525,000.

This data, which is better than expected for jobs data, comes days before the nonfarm payrolls monthly due Friday. It raises expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase the rate of bond tapering.

Jerome Powell, Fed Chair continued testimony on Capitol Hill on Day 2. He reiterated the need to speed up the taper of bond purchases at the September meeting. But he also stated that faster taper would not be disruptive for the markets.

Despite the improvement in the overall market, investors still seem to be cautious as utilities, which are typically defensive corners of the market led the upward move.

AES Corporation (NYSE) Alliant Energy WEC Energy and (NASDAQ:) were some of the largest gainers.

Utilities also benefit from a proxy bond, so treasury yields saw some losses after the intraday surge. However, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields have fallen further below 1.5%.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ): A more than 77% increase in health care stocks drove them higher after Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported positive results from their mid-stage focal, glomerular sclerosis research.

Moderna (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, slumped more than 8% after losing an appeal against a court ruling on patents – used in the making of its Covid-19 vaccine – held by Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:). Arbutus rose 71%.

In energy, Exxon Mobil After the major oil forecast of a doubling in earnings and cash flow between 2027 and 2027, the NYSE was at center stage. There were plans to reduce capital expenditure.

In tech, Apple (NASDAQ:) added to gains from a day earlier as some on Wall Street highlighted improving signs of improving supply chain pressures that could help the tech maker roll out its latest line of iPhones.

UBS predicts Apple will sell 80 million iPhones this December, as a result of the improved wait time for iPhones. This is compared to 82 million iPhones last year.

Twitter (NYSE) was up more that 2% on Tuesday when Cathie Wood announced that ARK had purchased 1.1million shares of the social networking company. This came amid optimism regarding the company’s future under new Chief Executive Parag Angrawal.