Wall Street down, conditioned for the umpteenth time by the statements and news on the Omnicron variant.
The caution is also explained by the expectation for the crucial data relating to US inflation: that relating to the consumer price index for November, which will be announced tomorrow by the Labor Department at 2.30 pm Italian time.
Economists interviewed by Dow Jones predict a 6.7% rise, a record since June 1982.
The Federal Reserve is ready to step in, further strengthening the newly launched tapering, which for now foresees a cut in asset purchases per month by $ 30 billion, compared to the total which amounted to $ 120 billion each month.
At 4.44 pm Italian time the Dow Jones drops by 0.23% to 35,673 points; the S&P 500 is -0.38% to 4,683 points, while the Nasdaq falls by 0.71% to 15,675 points.
Regarding the Omicron variant, Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said in an interview with Cnbc that the fourth dose of the anti-Covid vaccine may be needed sooner than expected.
His statements came after yesterday, a joint study by Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that the third dose of the vaccine would protect against the Omicron variant.
“To be clear: three doses of the vaccine are as effective against Omicron as the two doses were effective against the other variants. The booster dose enormously increases the effectiveness of the vaccine,” Pfizer CEO Bourla said yesterday in commenting on the data collected by the company.
In the interview with CNBC, the CEO added: “I think we will need a fourth dose”, and that “we may need it faster” than previously estimated (12 months after the third dose).
At the same time, the WHO – World Health Organization – has said that the Omicron variant could change the course of the Covid pandemic.
“Some features of the Omicron variant, including its global spread and high number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the pandemic,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The Organization stressed that genetic changes to the virus could affect its viral load and indicate greater transmissibility than previous variants.
Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID technical manager at WHO, said the first data on Omicron patients arriving from South Africa would suggest that the variant is less severe than the Delta variant but that, at the same time, it is “too much. soon come to a conclusion “. Pfizer stock rises by approximately 2%.
They sell the shares of companies linked to the reopening, such as
Carnival, United, Delta Air Lines, Expedia e Booking Holdings.
From the macroeconomic front, the weekly report relating to the initial applications for unemployment benefits was released today, which showed that, in the week ending last December 4, the number of American workers who applied for the first time to receive subsidies it stood at 184,000 units, at a minimum in 52 years, or from the week ending September 6, 1969.
The number of American workers who continue to receive benefits, in total, grew by 38,000 to just under 2 million.
Focus on Amazon, which sells half a percentage point after the maxi fine of over 1 billion euros to Amazon and its related companies for abuse of a position of absolute dominance in the Italian marketplace brokerage services market: an abuse that, according to allegations, would have allowed the giant founded by Jeff Bezos to favor its logistics service, called Fulfillment by Amazon, to the sellers active on the Amazon.it platform, to the detriment of competing operators in this market, and to strengthen its dominant position.