Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies were higher as gains in consumer-discretionary stocks outweighed slight losses for consumer-staples shares.
The rapid spread of Covid-19's Omicron variant is weighing on U.S. businesses, keeping more workers home sick or quarantined and leading some companies to cut services and reduce hours. The rise of U.S. Covid-19 infections to record levels in recent days has driven thousands of canceled flights, prompted retailers to train available employees on new jobs, and closed some stores altogether, companies said.
Starbucks is requiring its U.S. employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to regular testing, one of the first large restaurant chains to take such a step ahead of potential federal vaccination mandates for large employers. Starbucks said that workers in its U.S. cafes, offices and manufacturing plants must be vaccinated by Feb. 9 or get tested weekly.
Tesla shares rose nearly 14% after the company said annual vehicle deliveries surged 87% in 2021, growing at their fastest pace in years, as the company leveraged its Silicon Valley roots to overcome computer-chip shortages that have plagued the global auto industry. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle maker said Sunday that it delivered more than 936,000 vehicles globally in 2021, up from nearly half a million the previous year. The company has been aiming to increase annual deliveries by an average of 50%.
Meanwhile, Tesla has opened a new showroom in Xinjiang, the remote region where Chinese authorities are carrying out a campaign of forcible assimilation against religious minorities that has become a public-relations quagmire for Western brands. The Austin, Texas-based electric car maker started operations at the new showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, the company said in a Dec. 31 post on its official account on China's popular Twitter-like social-media platform Weibo.
Write to Amy Pessetto at amy.pessetto@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-03-22 1719ET
