(New York) Global markets retreated on Monday as concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19 returned, with a first case in China and a first death in the UK as investors have no macroeconomic news or business to distract their attention.
In Europe, the indices had adopted a wait-and-see position before turning red in the middle of the day. Paris lost 0.70%, London 0.83%, Milan 0.64% and Frankfurt ended in equilibrium (-0.01%).
The Dow Jones lost 0.89%, the technology-heavy NASDAQ index, 1.39%, and the broader S&P 500 index, 0.91%.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said at least one person infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has died in the UK. The country would be the first to officially announce a death due to Omicron.
Boris Johnson further qualified the contaminations due to Omicron as a “tidal wave” and said that this new variant “generated hospitalizations” in his country.
In addition, a first case of contamination with the Omicron variant was announced in China on Monday by the authorities in the city of Tianjin, in the northeast.
Valentin Bulle, equity manager at Dôm Finance, noted that the “return of investors to less risky assets” was also being felt on the bond market, where rates are falling.
The yield on ten-year US debt stood at 1.41% from 1.48% at Friday’s close.
Investors were limiting risk-taking even more while waiting for the meetings of the American and European central banks in the week.
Faced with record consumer price hikes, central banks around the world are under pressure and the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which presents its findings on Wednesday, has already planned to remove the adjective “provisional” to describe the inflation.
Overall, there is “a little nervousness,” according to Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategy specialist at investment firm Edward Jones, in part linked to the expectation of serial central bank meetings later in the week , from the Fed to the European Central Bank (ECB).
“It seems that the prospect of growth (of the world economy) has diminished”, because of the possible consequences of the resurgence of the pandemic, described Jack Ablin, head of investment at the management company Cresset Capital. .
The air lacks air
Values in the travel sector were suffering from the return of fears related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In London, Carnival fell 4.62% to 1,229.80 pence, IAG, parent company of British Airways and Iberia, 5.15% to 130 pence and Easyjet 4.15% to 503.80.
In Paris, Air France lost 3.35% to 3.81 euros, Safran 3.02% to 100.68 euros and Accor 3.89% to 25.95 euros.
In Frankfurt, Lufthansa fell 3.36% to 5.82 euros.
In New York, American Airlines (-4.94%) and United Airlines (-5.24%) also fell sharply.
Volkswagen committed to electric batteries
The automaker Volkswagen (+1.09% to 182.30 euros) has announced the creation of a European company dedicated to its battery manufacturing activities, reaffirming its willingness to open six electric cell factories in Europe by 2030 and invest some two billion euros in a factory where it wants to produce from 2025 these crucial components for its electric cars.
Reflux of oil, euro and bitcoin
Oil prices retreated on Monday as the market worried about the closure of factories in China in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which could slow the activity of the world’s second-largest economy.
The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for February delivery, the most traded contract in London, fell 1.01% to $ 74.39.
In New York, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of January dropped 0.53% to 71.29 dollars.
The euro fell 0.22% to $ 1.1287.
Bitcoin followed the path of values at risk and fell 6.15% to $ 46,867.