(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply lower on Wednesday, reminded of the Omicron variant by the first reported case in the United States, while continuing to digest the renewed firmness of the American Central Bank (Fed).
The Dow Jones dropped 1.34% to 34,022.04 points, the NASDAQ index, with a strong technological composition, gave up 1.83% to 15,254.05 points and the extended S&P 500 index, 1.18 %, at 4,513.04 points.
After opening up, the market ran out of steam during the session, especially after the authorities announced the first case of the Omicron variant identified in the United States, in California specifically.
“The scenario is known,” reacted Edward Moya, analyst for Oanda, in a note, “Wall Street will remain oriented by the news on the coronavirus until we know what to stand on this wave. ”
Likewise, Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management expects the market to remain volatile and volatile for the next two weeks before reliable data is released.
This deadline should correspond more or less to the next meeting of the monetary policy committee of the American Central Bank (Fed), on December 14 and 15, which should also give more visibility to investors.
The sudden hardening of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Tuesday also continued to weigh on the indices Wednesday, Cahill said.
After 2023, then mid-2022, more than 40% of investors no longer rule out a rate hike in the first half of next year.
Jerome Powell evoked this new course by ruling out, de facto, the possible effects of the Omicron variant on the economy, pending further information.
Despite the prospect of a faster rate hike than expected a few days ago, bond rates remain stubbornly low, a sign of investor nervousness.
The 10-year government bond rate was even down slightly on Wednesday, to 1.42% against 1.43% the day before.
As for the two-year rate, supposed to reflect more expectations of tightening in the medium term, it barely stretched, to 0.56% against 0.52% on Tuesday.
Initially very lively, after difficult sessions, stocks sensitive to the potential consequences of a slowdown in the economy in general and in tourism in particular were once again put to death.
The airlines American Airlines (-7.97%) or Delta Air Lines (-7.38%) were part of the lot, as was the cruise line Norwegian Cruise Line (-8.82%) or the Expedia reservations platform ( -3.73%).
Also at half mast, technology stocks such as semiconductor manufacturers AMD (-5.85%) or Qualcomm (-2.36%).
It was also bad weather for the dematerialized customer relations platform Salesforce (-11.74% to 251.50 dollars), punished for having published forecasts below expectations for its fourth quarter (from November to January) as well as the Fiscal year 2022. Its revenue and profit for the third quarter were, however, above analysts’ expectations.
In the pharmaceutical sector, after gaining almost 40% between Thursday and Monday thanks to the Omicron effect, Moderna landed and lost 11.87%, to 310.61 dollars.
Same cold snap, in lesser proportions, however, for its competitor Novavax (-7.66%), which is awaiting an imminent green light for the marketing of its vaccine against COVID-19.