Ômicron concerns hurt Asian and European stock exchanges

The advance of the Ômicron variant of the new coronavirus in Europe scares the markets and starts the week with losses in Asian stock exchanges in the European market. The Netherlands decreed a new lockdown and other countries are preparing to impose new restrictions to contain the virus’s circulation, but they still face a lot of resistance from the population.

The market is concerned about the pace of economic activity and the effects of the new Covid-19 wave on inflation, as it is not possible to predict whether pressure on prices will increase or decrease.

In China, the government announced a reduction in the rate of short-term loans, sending the message that it wants to maintain the strength of economic growth, despite imbalances in the real estate market and geopolitical risks.

In the international oil market, there was a drop of more than 3% and iron ore rose almost 4%, in reaction to the Chinese government’s decision to lower interest rates.

The drugmaker Moderna starts the week with a rise in shares. The company announced that a third dose of its immunizer increases protection against the Ômicron variant of the coronavirus.

Brazil

In the country, Ômicron is still not a cause for concern. Governments have been busy with flu cases caused by the influenza virus.

The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, said on Monday (20) that there is no date to define the vaccination of children, authorized by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) last week.

Earlier this Monday morning (20), the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) announced that the public hearing to discuss the privatization of Eletrobras will no longer be on Wednesday (22) and will move to January 5th .

The change in date was already expected after the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) postponed the analysis of the project that authorizes the sale of federal government shares once again.

The overthrow of the veto for the electoral fund, allowing expenditure of 5.1 billion in 2022, sparked an alert about the strength of the government’s articulation in Congress.

agenda of the day

In the Focus Bulletin, released on Monday (20), there is a good indication of how inflation should behave in the coming years.

Forecasts for the 2023 and 2024 IPCA were reduced to 3.4% and 3% respectively. The numbers show that the Central Bank’s strategy of continuing to raise interest rates, despite the weakening of economic activity, was absorbed by the market.

In the short term, there was a slight downward revision in this year’s IPCA, and an upward revision in next year’s index.

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) forecast drops again for 2021, remaining at 4.58%, and remains at 0.5% for 2022.

At the National Congress, the 2022 Budget rapporteur will present his final opinion on Monday (20). The proposal will consider a margin of more than 113 billion in the spending ceiling after approval of the PEC dos Precatório and will also contemplate 16.5 billion reais for the rapporteur’s amendments.

Abroad, we have the consumer confidence index in the euro zone.