Frankfurt, New York After the sell-off on Friday, US investors took courage again at the start of the week and used the setbacks to buy shares. Technology stocks were particularly in demand. Investors are betting that they will best survive the pandemic and the effects of the newly discovered Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The Dow Jones index of standard values closed on Monday 0.7 percent higher to 35,135 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq advanced 1.9 percent to 15,782 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 1.3 percent to 4655 points. On Friday, the indices collapsed between two and 3.5 percent after the fear of the newly discovered omicron variant of the corona virus led to a sell-off on the stock exchanges around the world.
“People see it as a bit of an opportunity to get into some areas of the market that were particularly hard hit by the Friday sell-off,” said Robert Pavlik, portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management. At the same time, they took the opportunity to get started with highly rated technology titles. Amazon shares rose 1.6 percent; Tesla shares were more than five percent more expensive.
US President Joe Biden also provided some reassurance, according to which new lockdowns in the USA are currently not an issue. At the same time, Biden warned against panic and said it would be a few weeks before it was known how well the vaccines protected against the new Omikron variant.
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“With a view to the future, the decisive question is how dangerous the new variant really is,” said the analysts from Berenberg. “Little is known at the moment. If the Covid-19 vaccinations also work with this variant, the markets should rise again towards the end of the year. Otherwise it should be rather uncomfortable. “
Von der Leyen: “The fight against Omikron is a race against time”
The appearance of the Omikron variant also made investors speculate on a possible delay in the US Federal Reserve’s plans to reduce its bond purchases and an interest rate hike. “If Omikron becomes a big problem, it should have more severe shocks than Delta, which we just went through,” said investment expert Thomas Hayes of asset manager Great Hill Capital. “There is no question that the throttling will either be paused or delayed.”
There was also an upward trend in raw materials. The industrial metal copper rose by around one percent to $ 9568 per ton. Brent crude oil from the North Sea gained around three percent to $ 74.77 a barrel (159 liters) after oil prices fell by more than ten percent on Friday. Analysts said the sell-off was excessive. Energy prices were boosted by speculation that “Opec +”, which includes members of the export cartel and other oil-producing countries such as Russia, will decide to pause their monthly increases in production at its upcoming meeting, said analyst Jeffrey Halley of brokerage firm Oanda.
Look at individual values
Moderna: The vaccine maker’s shares continue to rally, rising more than ten percent on Monday. Already on Friday they increased by 20 percent. Early next year, Moderna could launch a reformulated vaccine against the Omicron variant, the company’s medical director said on Sunday. Biontech also grew, with a plus of 3.9 percent.
Biontech: The Mainz competitor Biontech also announced that it was working on the development of an adapted vaccine. Accordingly, both papers continued their recovery rally. After a more than 20 percent plus on Friday, Moderna gained just under 12 percent and were thus the top value in the Nasdaq 100. The Biontech shares listed in New York rose by another 4.2 percent after their most recent 14 percent increase. However, both titles still have a long way to go to their record highs in August.
Airlines: After the shares of major airlines collapsed on Friday in response to the newly discovered Omikron variant, investors grabbed it. United, Delta and American Airlines are each gaining around 2.5 percent at their peak, after losing around 7 percent each on Friday. The travel booking website Expedia also increased 5.4 percent.
Merck: The pharmaceutical company’s shares fell 5.8 percent after Citi downgraded its stock from “buy” to “neutral”. The slow development of the company’s HIV drug Islatravir would affect Merck’s long-term potential.
Coinbase: Cryptocurrency exchange stocks are up five percent after Bitcoin price also rebounded. Other crypto-related stocks are also experiencing an upswing: Microstrategy is up 5.3 percent, Tesla and Square by more than 2.5 percent.
zoom Video: Zoom shares fell around four percent at the stock market launch and 1.8 percent later, after rising 5.7 percent on Friday. Other stay-at-home stocks also fell slightly at launch, including Peloton, Netflix and Teladoc.
Applied DNA Sciences: The shares shot up by 20 percent after the medical technology company announced that their PCR test can be used to detect the new Omikron variant. In the end there was a plus of a good 14 percent.
Twitter: At times, Twitter shares shot up by up to eleven percent before giving up their price gains. Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is giving up his post as CEO of the billionaire company. His successor is to be the previous chief technology officer Parag Agrawal. Dorsey’s dual role as head of Twitter and payment processor Square had been criticized by investors. Twitter shares closed 2.7 percent in the red.
More: How dangerous is the new corona variant for the markets? That’s what investment strategists say