Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States (US) stock market weakened at the opening of trading Tuesday (12/14/2021), after the omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus triggered a death case in the UK which sparked questions about the severity of the variant.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 84 points (-0.2%) at 08:30 local time (21:30 WIB) but after 15 minutes turned up 56.2 points (+0.16%) to 35,707.13. However, the S&P 500 lost 10.9 points (-0.23%) to 4,658.07 and the Nasdaq dropped 104.8 points (-0.68%) to 15,308.51.
Tesla shares plunged 2.3 percent at the open after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced he had sold his stake in the company for $906.5 million. On the other hand, Ford shares plunged 2.9 percent after Toyota announced an investment of US$ 35 billion for an electric car project.
In contrast, Pfizer shares rose nearly 1% after announcing the final results of a Covid test showed a reduced risk of hospital admission and death by up to 89% when using its vaccine.
The market will monitor the November producer price index where economists in a Dow Jones poll predict the figure will be around 0.5% or weaken from October’s 0.6% position.
The US central bank (Federal Reserve / The Fed) begins its two-day meeting. CEO Morgan Stanley assesses that the central bank needs to immediately raise its benchmark interest rate. Markets are monitoring the extent to which the Fed will accelerate the pace of reducing bond purchases in the secondary market.
“The Fed should start to consider raising the benchmark interest rate, so that when the downside risk arises, you will have ammunition to fight it. Right now, with zero benchmark interest rates, we have no ammunition,” he was quoted as saying. CNBC International.
In Monday’s trading, the Dow Jones was down 0.89%, or 320 points, while the S&P 500 index was down 0.9%. The Nasdaq fell 1.39% after investors abandoned technology stocks that were valued at higher values.
The S&P 500 is currently 1.6% off its record intraday high on Nov. 22. The Dow Jones is 2.5% adrift while the Nasdaq is 5% adrift. Airline and passenger ship stocks fell on concerns over the omicron threat.
CNBC INDONESIA RESEARCH TEAM
(ags/ags)
– .
