stocks notched their best day since march a broad tech-led rally as omicron fears fade. the dow gained 492 today. the s&p 500 was up 95. the nasdaq surged 462. up next, the stunning report from the u.n. showing a bleak outlook for afghans under taliban control. first, here s what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 5 in new york as the city giving non-citizens the right to vote in local elections. a bill nearing approval would allow some 800,000 of them to cast ballots for mayor, city council and other municipal offices. the bill would not allow non-citizens to vote for president or members of congress. fox 17 in nashville where a large statue of a university general and former kkk leader nathan bedford is removed from its pedestal. the statue sitting on private property along i-56 in nashville has been in place since 1997. it s been a source of debate and
entry into energy markets. biden releasing from the strategic preserve. but oil price have come down because of omicron fears. part of the drop is reflecting the health crisis. we ve also seen oil prices tick back up, so there s questions about how long gas prices will stay down. the other element here is natural gas. there s been a lot of concerns about natural gas prices spiking and what that would mean to home heating costs. as you can see, prices have really come down from natural gas. t down 10% yesterday afternoon. it s down about 40% from the recent peak because of warmer temperatures and it s al because some of these concerns about the united states running out of natural gas were really overblown. that was never realistic. the u.s. is the largest producer of natural gas in the world. the concerns of what we saw in europe, what happened here, that was exaggerated, and we ve seen that unwind here.
when i was an intern in college. he was the senate majority leader. ran for president three times and always looking to get things done on both sides of the aisle. he never lost touch. there we are when he received an award at the french embassy. grateful for our friendship and may he rest in peace. that s the story today. see you tomorrow. sandra: stocks surging. meanwhile, as omicron fears start easing, looking at the dow as the markets look to settle here at 4:00 eastern time. the dow up 647 points on the session. almost 2% gain. financial stocks including america express and golden sacks and visa among the big winners. with key inflation data, you can expect choppy sailing the next few days. a lot coming up. first this. so is russia preparing to invade