Stock market news live updates: Stock futures mixed as investors weigh Omicron risk, Bitcoin steadies

Stock market news live updates: Stock futures mixed as investors weigh Omicron risk, Bitcoin steadies

Stock futures traded mixed Monday morning, with investors further weighing the potential impacts of the Omicron variant after last week's volatile trading. Bitcoin prices edged marginally lower after a weekend sell-off.

Contracts on the S&P 500 and Dow rose before the opening bell, and the latter added more than 200 points, or 0.6%. Small-cap stocks outperformed, and Russell 2000 futures added about 1%. Nasdaq futures dropped, with the index on track to add to last week's losses as technology shares came under renewed pressure.

Some encouraging developments about the latest coronavirus variant helped boost risk assets. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said during CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that reports from South Africa have so far suggested the Omicron variant may not cause infections more severe than those caused by earlier variants.