Wall Street: Dow Jones plunges 800 pts on fears over new Covid variant

U.S. stock indexes opened sharply lower on Friday, with travel, bank and commodity-linked stocks bearing the brunt of a selloff triggered by the discovery of a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 800 points. The S&P 500 is down 1.4% in early trading, heading for its worst fall since late September and solidly lower for the week. 

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 180.85 points, or 1.14%, to 15,664.38 at the opening bell. Travel and energy stocks are among the biggest losers, with Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Cruises all off about 10%. The New York Stock exchange closes early at 1 p.m.

U.S. Treasury yields posted their sharpest drop since the pandemic began Friday as investors rushed toward safe haven assets following the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa.

The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was down 11.3 basis points at 0.532%, the sharpest drop since March 2020.

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 11.3 basis points to 1.531%, the largest drop since February of this year. Yields fall when prices rise.

Yields had been rising throughout the week following President Joseph Biden's announcement Monday that he would renominate Jerome Powell to a second term at the helm of the Federal Reserve.