Friday, November 26th, 2021
Cheers among vaccine investors
Omicron fear rages on Wall Street too
The US stock exchanges were the last to report deep red numbers on day one after a new Corona mutation became known. Airlines and tourism stocks were among the biggest losers. Investors, on the other hand, took advantage of the vaccine manufacturers.
The new Corona variant from South Africa has also caused strong sales on Wall Street. As in Asia and Europe, things went steeply downwards after South Africa sounded the alarm about the rapidly spreading new form of corona and thus aroused fears of possible travel and other restrictions. What is usually a quiet trading day on Wall Street because of the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday turned into a truly black Friday.
Of the Dow Jones Index buckled by 2.5 percent to 34,899 points, the broader one S&P 500 slipped by 2.3 percent. The technology-heavy one Nasdaq Composite listed 2.2 percent lower.
“The new mutation changes the risk assessment of the pandemic on the floor,” says Thomas Altmann, portfolio strategist at QC Partner. If this variant is actually more contagious and immune to vaccines, the only way to combat it would be massive restrictions. That would be poison for economic growth and corporate profits.
In addition to stocks, oil was also sold off vigorously, burdened by concerns about a shutdown, accompanied by a significant drop in demand. On the other hand, government bonds are among the favorites, which is hugely depressing yields. The yield on ten-year US Treasuries recently slipped 14.9 basis points.
The dollar fell sharply on the foreign exchange market. The dollar index lost 0.7 percent. Participants doubt whether the US Federal Reserve will stick to its tightening schedule in view of the looming economic problems. But it is precisely this interest rate fantasy that has supported the greenback recently, and is now being partially priced. Bitcoin also came under pressure. The gold price, however, was unable to benefit from the falling dollar in the long term and initially gave up significant gains over the course of the year.
The UK, Germany, Israel and Singapore are among the countries that have already restricted travel from southern Africa. Shares of Airlines like Delta Air Lines (minus 8.3 percent), United Airlines (minus 9.6 percent) and American Airlines Group (minus 8.8 percent) were under massive pressure. Boeing (minus 5.4 percent) also gave way. It didn’t look any better for cruise stocks like Carnival (minus 11.0 percent).
The winners, however, included the shares of Vaccine manufacturer Moderna, Pfizer and Biontech, which gained up to 21 percent. Tech stocks such as Google parent Alphabet and Amazon.com, which benefited from the switch to home work and low bond yields during the pandemic, were unable to escape the overall negative environment.