On Monday, the American stock index S&P 500 rose by 1.17%, closing the trading day at 4,591 points. Among the largest US companies, the value of which exceeds $200 billion, the leaders of growth were the shares of the company Meta Platforms and the shares of Intel Corporation, which both grew by 3.5%. The outsiders were shares of Pfizer, which fell by 5.1%, and shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, which fell by 2.1%, according to Minfin.
Yesterday’s optimism in the US markets was due to the fact that on Wall Street fears about the new Omicron strain decreased. The reason for this was the Sunday statement of the chief medical adviser of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, on CNN that the new strain is no more dangerous than the early variants of the coronavirus. Although it is still too early to make any final statements on this matter.
“So far, it doesn’t look like it’s very serious. “But we really have to be careful before we make any determinations that this is a less serious strain and it really doesn’t cause serious illness comparable to Delta,” Fauci said.
Investors who had been eagerly watching stocks that had fallen in price over the past two weeks were happy to receive this information and started buying. However, in my opinion, it is too early to draw positive conclusions, because even if the mortality and morbidity from the new strain will be equal to or slightly less than from Delta, then the main question will be the effectiveness of the vaccines.
If vaccines are not a barrier for Omicron, then even with lower lethality, this strain will be more dangerous. But there are still no clear answers to all questions, and therefore it is too early to put an end to this story. At any moment, there could be news of a new strain that could potentially both delight and panic markets.
The most important thing this week will be the US inflation data for November, which will be published on Friday.
