1) Wall Street extended gains as market relaxed on omicron jitter
Wall Street extended gains on Tuesday as the market eased on the omicron variant concerns. Dow Jones closed 1.40% higher at 35,719.43 points. S&P 500 rose 2.07% and Nasdaq jumped 3.03%.
Meanwhile, the British drugmaker GSK on Tuesday said its antibody based COVID-19 therapy with U.S. partner Vir Biotechnology is effective against all mutations of the new omicron variant. The company announcement is backed by citing early stages of studies.
2) Oil prices edged higher as U.S. crude fell more than expected
Oil prices continued to rise as concerns over lower demand due to the omicron outbreak faded. Brent crude closed $2.36 or 3.2% higher at $75.44 a barrel, following a 4.6% gain on Monday. Meanwhile, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.56 or 3.7% to settle at $72.05 per barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels for the week ended November 30, 2021, which was more than a draw of about 2.1 million barrels, expected by economists.
3) Pfizer CEO said omicron seems to be mild, but fast spreading is concerning
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the Covid-19 omicron variant appears to be milder than previous mutations such as the delta variant, but seems to spread faster and could lead to more mutations in the future.
“I don’t think it’s good news to have something that spreads fast,” he said to Wall Street Journal.
