Markets refocused today on concerns about a new variant of the cornavirus. The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant. In addtion, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that it is early days to conclude omicron is a milder variant and that it is unwise to sit back and assume that omicron is a mild variant and will not cause severe disease.
Major world stock indexes dropped on Monday. European indices finished today's session lower, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 1,88%, French CAC40 dropped 0,82% and the European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.3%. Major Wall Street indices extended Friday's losses, with Dow Jones losing over 1.40%, the S&P is trading 1.3% lower and the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1.4%. However Russell2000 is lagging the most and is trading about 2% lower.
Start investing today or test a free demo
Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appLooking at the forex market, the euro managed to gain about 0.4% against the dollar today. The US currency also weakened against CHF, but strengthened against CAD, AUD and NZD. However, the Turkish lira caught the most attention today. TRY was falling at the beginning of the day but gained dramatically in the evening. The downward movement on the USDTRY pair reached up to 20%, from the highest level set! The recovery comes as the dollar came under pressure as U.S. Treasury yields slipped following a blow to Democratic spending plans in Washington and on concerns about the continued spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. In addition Erdogan announced extraordinary measures to bolster the Turkish lira, including the introduction of a new program that will protect savings from fluctuations in the local currency.
When it comes to commodities markets both WTI and Brent prices dropped over 2.5% (which is related to concerns about the virus), while gold and silver fell about 0.3%. Bitcoin is trading slightly lower, about 1.5% down, as are other cryptocurrencies. Only Ripple is trading 2% up.
US30 dropped below the 100-period moving average which may result in a bigger downward correction. However the main trend remains upward. Source: xStation5
