The US stock market looked set to go up on Monday.
Spencer Platt is a photographer.
The US stock market fell on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Powell said that monthly bond purchases would end earlier than expected. He said that inflation can no longer be considered "transitory."
The comments from the central bank chief that warned investors against the Omicron strain, which he said threatens to slow down the country's economic recovery and increase "uncertainty for inflation" shook investor confidence.
Powell's comments made the selloff worse after Moderna's CEO expressed reservations about the vaccine's effectiveness.
The S&P 500 fell in lockstep with the Industrial Average. The tech-laden index fell after closing higher the previous day.
The US indexes stood after 4:00 pm. The close is Tuesday.
As major global economies seem to be on the verge of a recovery, investors are trying to assess the threat and gravity of Omicron. The strain was considered a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization because of evidence that it may increase the risk of reinfection with COVID-19.
Moderna boss Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times there is no world in which vaccine effectiveness is the same between Delta and Omicron. It will likely take months for vaccine-makers to develop and distribute large numbers of effective shots.
Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said that today will go down as the day Fed Chair Powell shed his dovish wings and showed signs of becoming a hawk. Powell's comments helped the dollar and sent stocks back to their earlier lows.
Despite the stock market's recent weakness, the strategists at JP Morgan believe the S&P 500 will not be affected by the emergence of the Omicron variant. The benchmark index is expected to gain 9% by the end of next year.
The investors looked for shelter from the headlines and pushed into US government bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell from Monday to Tuesday. Bond yields move with prices.
Grayscale Investments is launching a product that will ride on the coin's eye-catching gains.
All of the previous day's gains were erased by oil prices. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell to $66.60 per barrel. The international benchmark for oil fell to $70.57 per barrel.
The meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to decide on more supply increases.
The price of gold fell to $1,773.64 per ounce.
Business Insider has an original article.
