(New York) Fears over the coronavirus variant Omicron and a possible acceleration in monetary policy normalization in the United States again weighed on European stock indices on Thursday as Wall Street opted for a rebound.
In Europe, stock market indices have unanimously finished in the red: Paris (-1.25%), Frankfurt (-1.35%), Milan (-1.39%) and London (-0.55% ).
Wall Street rebounded the day after a sharp drop after the announcement of a first case of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant identified in the United States: The Dow Jones gained 1.82%, the NASDAQ index, influenced by technology stocks, 0.83%, and the extended S&P 500 index, 1.42%.
“With all the hysteria and noise surrounding Omicron, the danger is that the Delta variant will remain more prevalent and continue to disrupt Europe and bring German health services to their knees,” recalls Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets. .
Since the discovery of Omicron on Friday, stock market indices have been rocketing in recent sessions.
“The markets will continue to evolve according to information on the pandemic and announcements on the seriousness or not of the new variant”, indicates for his part Franklin Pichard, director of Kiplink Finance.
The Omicron variant, whose degree of dangerousness and contagiousness remains to be established, has been spotted on all continents and has forced certain governments to take new measures.
Germany has decided to tighten restrictions on people not vaccinated against COVID-19, imposing virtual confinement on them, without access to non-essential shops, restaurants, places of culture or leisure.
The United States will require a negative test carried out in the day before the departure of the international travelers vaccinated as of the “beginning of next week” to enter the territory.
“As the stock markets continue to oscillate between hope and fear, the bond markets are also in a state of turmoil awaiting the next Federal Reserve action on monetary policy,” comments Michael. Hewson.
The interest rate on the 10-year US debt was unchanged at 1.43% and the two-year rate, supposed to reflect more short-term expectations of tightening, rose to 0.62% from 0.55% the day before.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell did indeed change his tone on Tuesday: he felt it was time to stop talking about transitory inflation and envision a faster-than-expected reduction in asset purchases, paving the way for a key rate hike in 2022.
Oil turned upside down by OPEC +
Crude prices were treated to a roller coaster ride Thursday: up ahead of the OPEC + meeting, they fell sharply on the announcement of an increase in production in January by the cartel before returning in the green.
The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for February delivery rose 1.16% to $ 69.67.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of January rose 1.41% to 66.50 dollars.
In London, Shell shares ended up 1.33% to 1,629.20 pence and BP up 1.11% to 336.60 pence. In Paris, TotalEnergies took 0.21% to 42.03 euros.
Abrdn to acquire Interactive Investor
British asset management giant Abrdn fell sharply 3.77% to 230 pence after announcing on Thursday its intention to acquire one of the UK’s main investment platforms, Interactive Investor, for 1.49 billion euros. books.
Online consumption put on the diet
The values of digital specialists have been struggling, like Delivery Hero (-7.21% to 107.21 euros) and Zalando (-4.98% to 75.60 euros). In London, Just Eat Takeway finished sharply down 4.85% to 4,538 pence.
On the euro and bitcoin side
The euro was down 0.18% to $ 1.1300 and bitcoin was down 0.44% to $ 56,978 after making a trend change after Wall Street opened.