Negative Wall Street, as anticipated by the futures: the American stock market pays again the fears on the variant, which today have returned to attack the whole world. At 3.40 pm Italian time, the Dow Jones lost 336 points (-0.96%), to 34.799 points; the Nasdaq loses 0.13% to 15,762 points, while the S&P 500 drops 0.64% to 4,625 points.
The negative sentiment was rekindled by the statements of the number one of Moderna, the managing director Stephane Bancel who, interviewed by the Financial Times, said he believes that the existing vaccines are less effective against the new variant of Covid.
Bancel also said, in another interview with Cnbc yesterday, that it could take months to develop and distribute an ad hoc vaccine against Omicron.
Bancel’s statements are not good for the direct interested party, the company that produces anti Covid-19 Moderna vaccines, which marks a drop of about 7%. On the other hand, rival Pfizer, one of the few positive stocks of the S&P 500, did well, with a rise of 1%. Lockdown titles, such as Netflix, are also up, while Zoom Video turns around.
On the other hand, stocks in the travel, cruise and airline sectors are under pressure: sell on Expedia -2.7%, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings -2.5% approximately, American Airlines.
The speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at a hearing in Congress, to be precise, to the Senate Banking Commission, is expected today. Excerpts from the speech show that Powell will say, among other things, that “the recent increase in cases of Covid-19 and the Omicron variant represent downside risks to employment and economic activity and an increase in uncertainty for the inflation”. Powell will add that “a greater concern about the virus could reduce citizens’ willingness to work face-to-face, which would slow down the progress of the labor market and intensify supply chain problems”.