Global markets fall after Moderna Omicron warning

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The European stock markets fell after the boss of Moderna questioned the effectiveness of vaccines against the new Omicron Covid variant.

Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times that he thought there would be a drop in vaccine efficacy.

The symptoms of the Covid variant have been mild so far.

Travel restrictions have been put in place by the UK, the EU and the US.

Mr Bancel predicted that it would take months for drugs companies to update their vaccines and that existing vaccines would be less effective in staving off Omicron.

He said there is no world where the effectiveness is the same.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.5% to hit its lowest levels in nearly seven weeks, before they all regained some ground.

The Australian dollar hit a one-year low as crude oil prices fell and Tokyo's Nikkei index closed down.

There was a scramble for assets that are considered to be safer in times of uncertainty, such as gold, German government bonds, and the Japanese currency.

"It's not good news, and it's coming from someone who should know," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia currency strategist Joe Capurso. Markets have reacted in the same way you would expect them to.

The FTSE 100 index suffered its biggest drop in more than a year after investors were rattled by the discovery of the new variant.

The stock markets have risen slightly, but are still far below last week's levels.

The FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 are both higher than this time last year, up about 8.3% and 9.6% respectively.

Big shifts in the stock market can be seen in the news, whether they are booms or falls.

There are a lot of reasons why this performance affects you.

Millions of people with a pension are invested in pension schemes.

The value of their savings pot is influenced by the performance of their investments.

Timing is more important for those at retirement age, as this may be when a retiree uses their pension pot to buy a retirement income.

They will get more income in retirement if the pot is bigger.

Uncertainty about the new variant has triggered global alarm, with border measures casting a shadow over the economic recovery from the Covid pandemic that has been taking place.

Even if the new variant becomes more widespread, existing vaccines should still provide protection, according to the European Medicines Agency executive director.

The variant has been confirmed in 42 cases in 10 EU countries. There were six cases that were "probable".

She said the cases were mild in younger age groups.

The World Health Organization said it could take weeks to figure out how much protection current vaccines give.

The University of Oxford said that it was ready to rapidly develop an updated version of its vaccine if necessary, despite the fact that current vaccines do not prevent severe disease from Omicron.

Moderna, BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are working on vaccines that specifically target Omicron in case existing shots don't work.

Moderna is testing a higher dose of its booster.

There are vaccines for coronaviruses.
Moderna.
The stock markets are open.
A coronaviruses epidemic.