The floor of the New York Stock Exchange is occupied by traders.
Spencer Platt is a photographer.
The Federal Reserve meeting this week and the spread of the Omicron virus variant prompted new restrictions across a number of countries.
The S&P 500 fell 0.22%, the Nasdaq dipped 0.53% and the futures on the Dow Jones were down 0.05%, indicating a poor start to trading later on.
The Fed is holding a two-day meeting. The Fed's bond purchases are expected to be wrapped up more quickly than previously thought, and investors will look for any signal on the timing of rate hikes next year.
Michael Brown, head of market intelligence at Caxton, said in a note that the message that the market continues to send is one of expecting a policy mistake, in that near-term rate hikes to tame inflation will choke off longer-run economic growth.
The UK reported its first death from Omicron on Monday, and the 7-day moving average of cases in the country rose to its highest level since July.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was flat, but London's FTSE 100 was up by half a percent, making it one of the better-performing indices in Europe.
Despite increasing evidence that Omicron symptoms are milder, the tone from the UK government over the speed of infections from the variant has become increasingly anxious.
Asian stocks were mostly down overnight, as Omicron variant concerns increased and after China reported its first case of the variant. The government in Hong Kong decided over the weekend that returning US citizens will have to stay in a state-run facility for a week.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.33% while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.53%.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cautioned against putting in place strict regulations when it came to introducing guidelines to companies on share buybacks. Tokyo's Nikkei fell on the news.
Oil rose. The price of crude was stable around $74.40 a barrel, while the price of crude was down at $71.22 a barrel.
The Fed meeting concerns drove Cryptocurrencies down. Solana's sol went down 6.41%, cardano's ada lost 5.74%, and the price of ether dropped.
Bonds came under some pressure. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose but was still near one-week lows. The dollar index was flat at 96.18.
Business Insider has an original article.
