Stocks traded higher Thursday, as studies on the Omicron coronavirus variant revealed infected people were at less risk of being hospitalized. Stronger U.S. economic data also buoyed markets ahead of the Christmas holiday, and set major stock indexes on track to erase Monday’s steep drop and close the holiday-shortened week in the green.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 209 points, or 0.6%, in Thursday morning trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 4,721, above the index’s all-time closing high of 4,712, while the Nasdaq…