Wall Street is in a frenzy on Black Friday as stocks around the world tumbled in the face of a new Covid-19 variant.US equities took a dive at the open and continued their downward path Friday morning with the Dow tumbling a whopping 1,000 points. Oil prices were also badly hit. The new variant has been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, and Israel, prompting some countries to put flight bans in place.
Over the summer, the Delta variant spooked consumers and weighed on sectors like leisure and hospitality. Now investors and economists worry this new variant could do the same.
Wall Street was deep in the red in the late morning Friday, with the Dow (INDU) falling more than 1,000 points, or 2.9%, in what is shaping up to be a volatile session. The broader S&P 500 (SPX) and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) both fell 2.3%.
“The pandemic and COVID variants remain one of the biggest risks to markets, and are likely to continue to inject volatility over the next year” or even beyond, said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Trust Advisory Services, in a note to clients. Enter your email to sign up for the Stress, but less newsletter.
It’s hard to say at this point how lasting or impactful this latest variant will be for markets,” he added. It’s a shortened trading session as the New York Stock Exchange will close at 1 pm ET after being closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. The reduced trading volume during this half-day session is also likely to exacerbate the swings in the market. Nevertheless, it could shape up to be one of the worst days of the year for stocks. But not all stocks are taking a beating. Within the S&P 500, healthcare stocks are climbing, led by Covid vaccine manufacturers Moderna (MRNA) and Pfizer (PFE). Moderna shares were up more than 25% around the late morning, while Pfizer stock climbed more than 5%. Outside of equities, other asset classes were also struggling Friday. Oil prices are tumbling, for example. US oil futures fell nearly 12%, or more than $9, to $69.27 per barrel around the late morning. The global benchmark Brent dropped 10.5% to $73.59 per barrel. The US dollar, measured by the ICE US Dollar Index, which pegs it against its main rivals, was down 0.7% Friday morning.
Cryptocurrencies also felt the heat, dropping across the board. Bitcoin was down nearly 9% around the late morning, according to CoinDesk data.Meanwhile, investors are pushing into safe-haven investments. The 10-year US Treasury bond got more expensive and yields fell nearly 0.2 percentage points to 1.49% Friday morning. Gold prices also jumped.
