(New York) Global markets were very positive on Tuesday, for a second day in a row, as investors were optimistic about the health situation, after reassuring statements about the Omicron variant.
European markets finished sharply: London gained 1.49%, Frankfurt 2.82% and Paris 2.91%, achieving its best increase of the year on one session.
On Wall Street, the indices soared: also soared: the Dow Jones took 40%, the NASDAQ 3.03% and the S&P 500 2.07%.
Several statements regarding the Omicron variant reassured investors. It is “almost certain” that this variant does not cause more serious cases of COVID-19 than Delta, said in particular on Tuesday the scientist Anthony Fauci, adding that it would be necessary to wait another “two weeks at least” to know if it is even less dangerous.
“The milder nature of the symptoms” caused by this variant “seems to encourage investors to move past the uncertainty of the past week and focus more on the global recovery,” commented CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
Investors were also reassured by economic data, particularly concerning China, where foreign trade rose sharply last month, despite global economic uncertainty.
They “are positioning themselves for the post-coronavirus and expect a sustainable economic recovery,” said Andreas Lipkow, analyst for Comdirect.
In this volatile period, however, the trend remains fragile, with concerns still present about price hikes and central bank action.
After moving at historically high levels, global markets experienced a soft spot on November 26, following the discovery of the Omicron variant, and have been doing yo-yos since.
Meanwhile, in China, investors are watching the ultra-indebted real estate giant Evergrande. For the first time, it has failed to repay its creditors, the Bloomberg agency said Tuesday, when the Chinese state comes to its head to avoid bankruptcy.
Well oriented raw materials
Commodity stocks benefited from fading fears about the effects of the Omicron variant on economic activity.
In Paris, Arcelor Mittal took 5.29% to 26.36 euros. In London, Anglo American gained 6.49% to 2,995 pence and Rio Tinto 4.80% to 4,813 pence.
Oil continued its momentum from Monday: WTI’s US barrel price for January rose 3.68% to $ 72.05 and that of a barrel of North Sea Brent for February delivery s’ is appreciated by 3.22% to 75.44 dollars.
In Paris, TotalEnergies took 1.93% to 44.28 euros.
Intel climbs thanks to its subsidiary Mobileye
US semiconductor giant Intel jumped 3.10% to $ 52.57 after announcing that it planned to bring its Israeli subsidiary Mobileye specializing in driving technologies to Wall Street in mid-2022. autonomous.
This announcement also benefited semiconductor manufacturers STmicroelectronics (+ 5.68% to 44.40 euros) and Infineon (+ 6.23% to 42.88 euros).
The automobile moves forward
The automobile was celebrating Tuesday, especially in Germany where the growth of the sector (+ 12.6%) boosted the growth of industrial production in October (+ 2.8%).
Daimler rose 1.57% to 86.81 euros and BMW 2.74% to 90.84 euros.
For their part, Porsche (+ 8.46% to 81.52 euros) and Volkswagen (+ 8.63% to 185.00 euros) jumped: the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, citing internal sources, revealed on Tuesday that the The Piëch and Porsche families, who own 31.4% of Volkswagen’s capital through their holding company Porsche SE, were preparing to sell part of their shares in the company. The objective of the operation: to release sufficient liquidity to buy back a “significant share package” of Porsche.
On the euro and bitcoin side
The euro retreated against the greenback (-0.20%) at 1.1262 dollars at around 8:10 p.m. GMT.
Bitcoin continued to recover (+ 1.73% to $ 50,985), after its soft spot on Saturday.