Jan 4 (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 hit record highs shortly after open on Tuesday as worries about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus subsided and travel stocks bounced, while Ford gained on upbeat electric pickup production forecast.

At 9:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 182.88 points, or 0.50%, at 36,767.94, the S&P 500 was up 13.36 points, or 0.28%, at 4,809.92, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.94 points, or 0.02%, at 15,829.86. (Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)