The Paris Stock Exchange regains a little height in the middle of the afternoon, which allows the Cac 40 index, up 0.48%, to tickle again the threshold of 7,000 points. But volumes are low, at 1.38 billion euros, as traditionally in this period of truce for confectioners. In New York, the trend is more hesitant. The Dow Jones lost 0.14% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.28%.
The statistics of the day, across the Atlantic, had little impact on the trend. In the third quarter, gross domestic product grew 2.3% at the end of an annualized rate, slightly more than the 2.1% estimated, thanks mainly to a 2% increase in the expenditure component of consumption (1.7% previously). The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index was also a little better than expected in December, at 115.8 points, against 111 expected by the Bloomberg consensus and 111.9 in November. Sales of second-hand homes, for their part, stood at 6.46 million units at an annualized rate, slightly less than the 6.53 million expected.
After its sharp rebound from the day before, operators remain in suspense. According to Timothy Lesko, director at Granite Investment Advisors, “ the market appears to have reacted to a short-term oversold position. Omicron and all the uncertainties surrounding it create high volatility. Bonds have been overbought, stocks have been oversold and we are now looking to anticipate the future. “
” We are ready “
Same analysis for Craig Erlam, at Oanda: “ Just as we shouldn’t get carried away by yesterday’s massive selling, which was likely caused by low liquidity ahead of the holidays, we shouldn’t over-interpret Tuesday’s rebound. These are illiquid markets, for which Omicron continues to form a huge cloud of uncertainty. ” Corn ” if the consequences induced by Omicron remain benign, which seems to be the subject of a debate, we could attend a rally. “
Speaking to the Americans on Tuesday evening, Joe Biden wanted to be reassuring on the health front. It’s not ” not March 2020, he told reporters gathered at the White House, 200 million people are fully immunized, we are ready, we know more “. Regarding people still unvaccinated, the president, on the other hand, considered that they had ” good reasons to be worried “.
Resist in a less accommodating context
New measures have been announced. Some 500 million self-tests will be available to Americans starting in January and distributed free to those who request them online. 1,000 U.S. Army medical personnel will be deployed to bolster the workforce in the most overburdened hospitals. Temporary supplementary vaccination centers headed by the Federal Disaster Management Agency will be open this week, especially in New York.
With the Delta variant, ” the economy held up better than expected, says Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. Many would argue that this is due to the monetary stimulus measures. With Omicron, this will not necessarily be the case. The question now is whether the economy and the market can hold up given much less accommodating fiscal and monetary policies. “
” Next battle in war on Covid will prompt US and UK to rush to secure supplies of treatment for the virus, adds Edward Moya, at Oanda. The Biden administration is expected to acquire 4 million doses of treatment by the end of January, while the UK has obtained 1.75 million pills from Merck and another 2.5 million from Pfizer. Omicron has shown that unvaccinated individuals still represent a significant portion of the infected population in highly vaccinated countries and that hospital capacity is shrinking rapidly. Concern shared in Germany “.