Wall Street followed the fall of the European arenas, on the day when the new type of Covid-19 virus that was discovered in South Africa shook the markets. Concerns associated with this variable and the possibility of restrictions that could have an impact on economic growth affected investor sentiment. This afternoon, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already named this variant, choosing the name Omicron, stating that it is a “variant of concern.”
In a reduced session the day after the Thanksgiving holiday, the three major US indexes closed in the red. For example, the S&P 500 index fell 2.3% to 4,594.62 points – since February of this year it has not fallen much.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.53% to 34,899.34 points, while the Nasdaq Technology Index fell 2.23% to 15,491.66 points. Similar to what happened in Europe, companies linked to the tourism sector were also punished, while listed companies linked to topics such as teleworking or exercising at home gained value. Carnival Corp, which operates in the cruise sector, fell 10.94% on Wall Street. Royal Caribbean also sank, in this case 13.22%. In airlines, United Airlines stock fell 9.57%.
Zoom, which was already the “winner” of the pandemic, ended the day on a positive note, with gains of more than 5%.
In pharmaceuticals, the reduced session tested positive for Moderna and Pfizer – two companies responsible for vaccines against covid-19. Moderna saw shares rise 20.57% to $329.63, while Pfizer shares climbed 6.11%.
