(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened sharply lower on Friday, in turn reacting to concerns about the appearance of a new variant of the coronavirus.
Around 10 a.m., the Dow Jones lost 2.56% to 34,888.45 points, the NASDAQ index, indicative of the direction of technology stocks, dropped 1.42% to 15,620.19 points and the extended S&P index 500, 1.83% at 4615.23 points.
The Toronto Stock Exchange retreated more than 300 points, dragged down by the price of crude oil.
Toronto’s S & P / TSX Composite Index lost 362.29 points to 21,250.89 points.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar was trading at 78.28 cents US, down from its average rate of 79.03 cents US the previous day.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, the price of crude oil plunged from US $ 5.39 to US $ 73.00 per barrel, while natural gas rose 25 US cents to US $ 5.36 per million of BTU.
The price of gold advanced US $ 20.20 to US $ 1,804.50 an ounce and copper lost 15 US cents to US $ 4.32 per pound.
Usually the day between Thanksgiving Thursday, a public holiday in the United States, and the weekend, is characterized by low volumes in the absence of many investors.
This sparse plateau could increase market volatility during a session that promises to be eventful.
Wall Street is only open for half a session on Friday, with an early close at 6 p.m. GMT, three hours earlier than usual.
From the first exchanges, the American equity markets aligned with the other major world stock markets, turned upside down by the announcement of the appearance of a new highly contagious variant of the coronavirus, for the moment called B.1.1529.
Scientists have not yet determined how effective COVID-19 vaccines were against this variant, which was first detected in South Africa.
In the absence of data on possible resistance to the vaccine and the spread of this variant, “it is only fear,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com in a note. “However, the markets are afraid of fear itself today. ”
To make matters worse, Schwab analysts recall, “the macroeconomic calendar is deprived of any publication today and company news is also scarce”, so there is nothing to look away from this B.1.1529.
“We are witnessing a rotation towards assets considered safe, which penalizes equities, commodities and oil and benefits bonds and gold,” said Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda.
The average 10-year US government bond rate eased sharply to 1.51% from 1.64% at the close on Wednesday (the market was closed on Thursday).
This mutation of the virus “is fueling concerns about stricter economic restraint measures and its effects on global recovery” post-pandemic, explained analysts at Briefing.com, in a note.
This new development has set in motion a series of sectors already very influenced, for good or for bad, for 18 months by the coronavirus pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, US airlines were hard pressed to open Wall Street, with this new variant threatening to penalize global air travel.
American Airlines (-8.58%), Deta Air Lines (-8.99%) or Southwest (-4.92%) sank far into the red before the bell.
Still in the tourism department, cruise lines Norwegian (-9.94%), Carnival (-10.49%) and Royal Caribbean (-9.74%) were preparing for a punishment during Friday’s session.
In the wake of the slippage in oil prices, Chevron (-3.61%), Exxon Mobil (-6.02%) or ConocoPhillips (-6.86%) were also very poorly positioned.
Conversely, the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines Moderna (+ 21.25%), Pfizer (+ 6.54%) or Novavax (+ 8.81%) were ready for take-off.
The same goes for the revelations of the pandemic thanks to confinements and teleworking, the Zoom video conference platform (+ 9.26%) and the specialist in connected bikes Peloton (+ 4.33%).
The “Chinese Uber” Didi collected (6.72% to 7.57 dollars) information from the Bloomberg agency according to which the Chinese authorities have asked the leaders of the group to initiate its delisting.
Since its listing on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30, the Didi share has lost almost half of its value.
In the turmoil also, several distribution giants, in a context of nervousness of investors on this great day of sales of “Black Friday”.
Already pounded in recent days, the department store chains Macy’s (-5.57%) or Nordstrom (-6.71%) were still slipping, as was Gap (-4.68%).
Boeing plunged (-7.17% to 195.49 dollars) after the Canadian authorities notified the American aircraft manufacturer that its candidacy for the renewal of the fighter planes of the Canadian army did not meet the specifications, according to several North American media.
Only Lockheed-Martin and the Swedish Saab would still be in the race in this tender.