Wall Street institutions are trying to figure out what Omicron means.
The images are by Angela Weiss.
The discovery of a new variant of the coronaviruses is causing investors around the world to wonder what it will mean for the economy and markets.
There is not much information on whether the Omicron variant is any more dangerous or transmissible, although reports from southern Africa say many people have only mild symptoms.
The stock market and oil rebounded on Monday, despite Omicron causing them to plunge on Friday.
The recovery appears to be a reflection of the noises coming out of the world's top financial institutions, with many analysts sticking to relatively upbeat forecasts for US and global stocks, while telling clients to brace for more volatility in the coming weeks.
Wall Street strategists and economists are giving their opinions.
Markets shouldn't make conclusions.
The emergence of the new variant is a concern for the markets and Mark Haefele will keep an eye on it. We advise investors not to jump to conclusions based on small data samples and anecdotal reports with large margins of error.
We advise against hasty shifts in investment strategy.
Christian Keller, head of economics research atBarclays, said that "answering key questions about Omicron may take weeks, which could mean elevated uncertainty for the remainder of the year."
The most benign outcome would be the discovery that 'Omicron' is neither more transmissible, nor deadly than earlier versions, and that existing vaccines are effective against it.
The US economy is doing well.
The economy should enter the year with a strong wage growth, falling unemployment and huge gains in asset prices.
The economic reports this week and Friday's jobs report should show that the economy is gaining steam in the fourth quarter.
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It is likely to stay around.
Chris Harvey is a senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo. Stress levels will take at least 1-2 weeks to decay if the market decides to shoot first, aim later.
"Market volatility is likely to persist until more facts about the new COVID-19 variant are known."
We reiterate our assessment from the Investment Committee report that we keep equities at a small overweight in portfolios and government bonds at an underweight.
Omicron is supposed to boost growth and hurt value stocks.
The main risk we see is that the intermediate-term bout of leadership in Value, Cyclicals, and Small Cap may be on hold.
When the rate of change in domestic COVID-19 is worsening, Growth, Secular, and Large Cap have tended to perform better.
Business Insider has an original article.
