untitled design

‘Abnormal landing’ on Wall due to Omicron mutation – ‘Dive’ 460 points for Dow

The news that the first confirmed case of the coronavirus mutant Omicron was detected in the US literally brought the ups and downs on Wall Street, as it led to an “abnormal landing” of the indicators that saw the profits recorded in the largest part of the meeting.

The first session of December started strongly upwards, as investors tried to recover part of the strong losses recorded in the last session of November, drawing on US employment data, which showed that US companies continued to add jobs with healthy pace last month.

However, the strong gains of the indices gradually diminished, especially after the statements of the President of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, before the Committee on Financial Affairs of the Congress, where he stressed that the risks of “persistent” high inflation have “clearly increased”, adding that In this context, the monetary policy of the Federal Bank will be adjusted.

“(Monetary policy) has adapted to them and will continue to adapt,” Powell told the commission, adding: “We have seen that inflation is more persistent. “We have seen that the factors that lead to rising inflation are more persistent.”

The central banker’s comments, both yesterday and today, before the Congressional Committee “confirmed” the estimates that at the forthcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve in a few days the policymakers will consider the acceleration of tapering, ending the market earlier. as a result of strong economic growth but also estimates that the inflation rally is expected to continue until mid-2022.

This development, at a time when uncertainty is evident about the impact that the Omicron mutation may have on growth, has sparked fears that the Federal Reserve has already decided to change its policy and take a less pro-economic approach. .

But what led to a complete reversal was the confirmation that the new coronavirus’s Micron mutation had reached the United States, sparking fears of new restrictions that could undermine the US economy again.

The White House’s chief adviser on dealing with the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a press conference at the White House that the first case of the Omicron strain in the country was detected in a fully vaccinated person who had returned from a trip to South Africa on November 22 and tested positive on November 29.

“The person is in quarantine and has been informed of all his close contacts, which so far, are all negative for the coronavirus,” Fauci said, adding that “the patient not only had mild symptoms, but in fact the symptoms appear to be improvement”.

Indicators – Statistics

On hearing the news, investors abandoned any attempt to lead the market higher, with the indices turning to negative ground and finally closing the first session of December with strong losses, for the second consecutive day.

More specifically, the Dow Jones industrial average, which started the day with a jump of over 250 points and intra-conference reached 520, up to 35,004 points, made a “turn” of 983 points to close with losses of 1.34% at 34,022.04 points. .

A similar course was followed by the wider S&P 500, which from the intra-conference high at 4,652.94 points finally finished with a fall of 1.18% to 4,513.04 points.

Strong losses for the technological Nasdaq, which also erased its significant intra-conference gains and from 15,816.82 points fell and finished the day at 15,254.10 points, down 1.83%.

The Russell 2000 small capitalization index, meanwhile, entered a bullish zone, for the first time since June 2020, as it closed below the limit of 2,198.47 points and specifically at 2,172 points, with a fall of 1.2%.

.

You may also like

Get the latest

Stay Informed: Get the Latest Updates and Insights

 

Most popular