PARIS, December 22 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on a hesitant note on Wednesday, penalized by the return of concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and its impact on global growth the day after a clear session rise on the back of a technical rebound.
In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index gained 22.88 points, or 0.06%, to 35,515.58 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500, larger, rose 0.03% to 4,651.03 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.14%, or 21.55 points, to 15,319,532.
US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday the opening in the United States of additional federal centers for vaccination and COVID-19 screening to fight against the outbreak of contaminations caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
In Europe, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands have decided to impose new health restrictions, while France has said it is ready to take new measures.
This new turn of the sanitary screw, which could weigh on global growth, is making investors particularly nervous.
“We have seen significant selling in the markets over several consecutive sessions followed by a rebound. This brings us back to neutral territory,” said Art Hogan, market strategist at National Securities.
On the value side, technology giants like Apple, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms are declining slightly.
Tesla gains nearly 4%. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday he had sold “enough shares” to meet his goal of divesting 10% of the automaker’s capital.
In health, Pfizer takes nearly 1%, the US laboratory announcing Wednesday that it will provide the UK with 2.5 million additional doses of its antiviral treatment Paxlovid against COVID-19, which is on the way to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the health authority in the United States.
On the indicator side, the release of final US gross domestic product (GDP) statistics for the third quarter allowed the S & P-500 to slightly reduce its losses in futures contracts before Wall Street opened.