NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The first case of an Omicron infection in the USA quickly ended an attempt at recovery on the troubled US stock exchanges on Wednesday. After initially significant recovery gains, the most important indices turned into the red in the later course of the year. There was a particularly steep downward trend in the last few minutes of trading. The first cases of the new Corona variant are now also in Great Britain, Switzerland, Norway and Brazil.
In South Africa, Covid-19 cases have also doubled within a day. However, it is not yet clear whether the sudden increase is related to the new Omikron variant. The Coronavirus variant Omikron is currently classified as worrying because of its rapid spread and numerous mutations. How ill the virus actually makes cannot yet be estimated due to the lack of sufficient data and since mainly young people have been infected so far.
Der Dow Jones Industrial ultimately lost 1.34 percent to 34,022.04 points. It closed at its lowest level at the beginning of October and also fell below the much-noticed 200-day line that signals the longer-term trend. The fluctuation range of the US stock market barometer on this trading day was just under 1000 points.
The market-wide S&P 500 
fell by 1.18 percent to 4513.04 points in the middle of the week. The selection index fell 100 on the Nasdaq by 1.60 percent to 15,877.72 points.
On the data side, the main focus was primarily on sentiment in US industry, which did not brighten as much as expected in November.
Overall, there were few winners on the US stock exchanges, such as shares in utility companies. On the other hand, the losers increased and were again dominated by numerous papers from the travel and leisure sector and related industries. The shares of the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, for example, fell by almost 5 percent in the Dow.
Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines stocks fell seven to around eight percent.
Papers from vaccine manufacturers such as Biontech, Moderna or Novavax also came under pressure and lost 5 to 12 percent. However, they had recently recovered strongly from their setbacks in late summer and autumn.
The shares of Merck & Co could not hold their profits in the weak overall market and ultimately fell by 0.6 percent. An advisory body to the US FDA has recommended emergency approval for a corona drug from the pharmaceutical manufacturer. The recommendation is not binding on the FDA, but the authority usually follows the assessment of the consultant.
At the bottom of the Dow, however, was Salesforce with a discount of almost 12 percent. The software manufacturer’s business in the past quarter went better than expected, but investors complained about the outlook for the fourth quarter and the sales statements for the first quarter of 2023.
For the shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the Nyse went up and down by 1.0 percent. The information technology company had also disappointed with its outlook. However, the strong order intake and solid cash inflow were seen positively on the market.
General Motors (GM) braced themselves against the downward trend in the S&P 100 and gained 0.3 percent. The largest automaker in the United States became more optimistic about the current fiscal year despite the continuing shortage of chips in the industry.
The Euro ultimately fell in US trading after initial gains and closed Wall Street at $ 1.1315. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.1314 (Tuesday 1.1363) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8838 (0.8800) euros.
In the US bond market, the futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note-Future) after early losses by 0.14 percent to 131.73 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 1.42 percent./ck/mis
— By Claudia Müller, dpa-AFX —
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