(Paris) European markets were moving in the red on Thursday, amid fears related to the coronavirus variant Omicron, while New York appeared hesitant.
In Europe, stock indices are bending, in the wake of Wall Street which ended sharply down Wednesday, after the announcement of a first case of the Omicron variant identified in the United States. Around 8 a.m., Paris dropped 1.29%, Frankfurt 1.55%, Milan 1.43% and London 0.87%.
The New York Stock Exchange was moving towards an opening in dispersed order. The Dow Jones futures contract pointed up 0.44%, the S&P 500 futures contract by 0.35 while the NASDAQ futures contract lost 0.06%.
“Another day, another massive turnaround in (market) management driven by information about Omicron,” notes Jeffrey Halley analyst at Oanda.
Since the discovery of the new Omicron variant on Friday, the stock market indices have been doing the yoyo: falling after highs reached in early November, recovering in favor of a bargain hunt then starting again on the decline and attempting a rebound the following session …
The new Omicron strain has been spotted on all continents and is forcing governments to consider new measures.
US President Joe Biden has decided to strengthen existing provisions without overly constraining US citizens. For international travelers, on the other hand, a negative test will be required from “the beginning of next week” to enter the United States, in addition to being vaccinated.
Germany, for its part, will decide on additional restrictions on Thursday, including possible closings of bars and other public places.
On the medicine side, the European Medicines Agency has launched the accelerated review of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine from the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva. And the UK has cleared GlaxoSmithKline’s monoclonal antibody against the coronavirus in people at risk.
“As the stock markets continue to oscillate between hope and fear, the bond markets are also in a state of turmoil awaiting the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy action,” comments Michael. Hewson.
The interest rate on the 10-year US debt rose a little despite fears related to the variant, to 1.42, against 1.40% at the close of the previous day. As for the two-year rate, supposed to reflect more expectations of tightening in the medium term, it barely tightened, to 0.58% against 0.55%.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell did indeed change his tone on Tuesday: he felt it was time to stop talking about transitory inflation and envisions a faster-than-expected cut in asset purchases, leading the way to an increase in key rates during 2022.
Investors are following Thursday the meeting of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies via the OPEC + agreement, who meet to decide on their production volumes for the start of next year.
Many analysts are now betting on maintaining the current level of production, after the detection of the new variant of the coronavirus and the use of strategic reserves by the United States and other countries.
Banking agreement
The European Commission on Thursday imposed a total of more than 344 million euros in fines on banks UBS (-0.93%), Barclays (-2.60%), Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC (-0.56 %) and Credit Suisse (-2.07%), found guilty of cartel in the foreign exchange market.
GSK resists Omicron
The British laboratory GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that its experimental monoclonal antibody against the coronavirus, now authorized in the United Kingdom, remains active “against key mutations of the new Omicron variant”. Its stock lost 0.19% to 1,538 pence.
Oil rebound, bitcoin stable
Oil prices were moving in dispersed order at the time of the OPEC + meeting.
A barrel of North Sea Brent for February delivery was stable at $ 68.89, in London around 7.55 a.m.
WTI’s US barrel for January delivery lost 0.32% to $ 65.37.
The euro gained 0.20% to 1.1343 dollars.
Bitcoin was virtually stable (-0.90%) at $ 56,520.