Stocks churn as Wall Street’s omicron ride keeps jolting

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writers

Wall Street has investors on another roller-coaster ride Wednesday, as an early stock market rally lost steam, knocking indexes into the red. The S&P 500 was down 0.5% after having been 1.9% higher in the early going following some better-than-expected readings on the U.S. economy. The afternoon reversal is the latest dizzying move for Wall Street’s benchmark, which sank 2.3% on Friday for its worst loss since February, only to then rise 1.3% and then fall 1.9%. The wild movements are partly the result of investors struggling to handicap how much damage the newest coronavirus variant will do to the economy.