1) Economics data, rate hikes and bond yields pressure Wall Street to close lower
Wall Street closed lower on Monday as investors continued their selloff amid rising concerns of upcoming inflation data, spiking bond yields and an interest rate hike by the Fed. Economists expected that the U.S. inflation could approach 4-decade high. 10- year bond yields rose to 1.80% and interest rate hike could be as soon as March.
Dow Jones closed 0.45% lower at 36,068.87 points. S&P 500 fell 0.14% while Nasdaq edged 0.05% higher.
2) Pfizer’s vaccine against omicron ready in March
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday a Covid-19 vaccine that targets the coronavirus omicron variant will be ready in March. Currently, the company has already begun manufacturing the doses. The CEO also said that the new vaccine will also target other variants that are circulating.
Real-world data from the U.K. showed that Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines were around 10% effective at preventing symptomatic infection from omicron 20 weeks after the second dose.
3) Oil prices recover from lower demand fears
Oil prices fell on Monday’s session as concerns about demand fears on an increasing number of omicron infections that turns into a dominant variant and the report of increasing production output from Libya.
Brent crude settled at $80.87 a barrel on Monday, falling 1.1% while the West Texas Intermediate closed at $78.23, falling 0.90%. However, oil prices rebounded in the morning session of Tuesday.
4) Fed vows to prevent inflation from becoming entrenched
As traders are focusing on the Fed’s testimony at a congressional hearing on Tuesday about the rising consumer prices at a higher pace, the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pledged “to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched”.
