Kaohoon Morning Brief – 22 December 2021

1) Wall Street cooled down from omicron, finished in gain

Wall Street made a sharp gain on Tuesday in an attempt to cool down Covid-19 omicron variant concerns that pressured the market to close in negative territory in the past three sessions.

Last night, Dow Jones gained 560.54 points or 1.6% to close at 35,492.70 points. S&P 500 rose 1.8% and Nasdaq increased 2.4%.

 

2) WHO urged holiday gathering to be cancelled amid the spreading of omicron

The World Health Organization (WHO) gave a warning for the upcoming holiday season as the highly infectious Covid-19 omicron variant has now been detected in at least 89 countries, while some governments have imposed stricter measures on tourist arrivals and domestic activities.

“All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal. The fastest way to do this is for all of us, leaders and individuals, to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“An event canceled is better than a life canceled. It is better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later.”

 

3) Oil prices finished higher and continued to rise on Wednesday

Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday after a sharp plunge in the Monday session as the market continues to digest information about the coronavirus omicron variant. The international benchmark Brent crude closed 3.4% higher yesterday at $73.98 per barrel and continued to gain in the morning session of Asian trading hours on Wednesday. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 3.66% to $71.12 per barrel and also continued to rise on Wednesday as well.

 

4) Biden ruled out national lockdown

The U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of returning to the national pandemic lockdown amid Covid-19 omicron variant concerns that has been taken over delta as a dominant strain.