Markets

Lesson One From the Omicron Drop: Markets Don’t Like Bad News
Markets

Lesson One From the Omicron Drop: Markets Don’t Like Bad News

It would be nice to say that the Omicron fall-rebound-fall pattern holds a deep lesson on investor biases, the overextended state of the market or the tendency of the market to ignore obvious risks and then panic. At least, it would be nice for those of us writing market commentary. Unfortunately, the explanation for the scale of Friday’s fall and Monday’s partial rebound is prosaic: Something potentially very bad happened, the discovery of a variant of Covid-19 that spreads fast and might be able to evade vaccines. And it happened in the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday, when much of Wall Street was away.
Gas Prices Pressure Drivers’ Finances
Markets

Gas Prices Pressure Drivers’ Finances

Rachel Gould spends $50 on gas taking her two special-needs children on the three-hour trip from her home in Central Illinois to a hospital in St. Louis. That is roughly a 60% increase from the same time last year.  “You have to have gas and have to pay for it either way you look at it,” said Mrs. Gould, who drives a Dodge Caravan that gets 23 miles to the gallon. 
Omicron Uncertainty Will Linger a While
Markets

Omicron Uncertainty Will Linger a While

They say the waiting is the hardest part. When it comes to the waiting that we must suffer through before we have a real sense of how severe the Omicron threat is, we can only hope that will be true. There are some fundamental questions about the new strain that scientists will need reasonable answers to before they have a sense of how dangerous it is. Among them: How long has it been circulating and how widespread is it already? How transmissible is it? How dangerous is it for people who are infected? How much protection do previous bouts of Covid-19 or vaccinations confer against infection or severe symptoms?
Peloton, Moderna, Marriott, Pfizer: What to Watch in the Stock Market Today
Markets

Peloton, Moderna, Marriott, Pfizer: What to Watch in the Stock Market Today

Wall Street indexes opened lower as Omicron fears returned to the fore after vaccine makers suggested current shots might not be as effective against the new variant. Here’s what we’re watching in Tuesday’s trading: It has become a familiar tale this week: Investors get tetchy over Omicron, and crude, cruise lines and airlines lose ground, while pandemic favorites like Peloton and vaccine makers advance. All of the above were in evidence on Tuesday. Occidental Petroleum , American Airlines and Carnival were down in early trading. Meanwhile, Peloton and Novavax inched higher. The FDA could authorize Covid-19 boosters from Pfizer and BioNTech for use in 16- and 17-year olds as soon as next week. Moderna ’s CEO said current shots are likely to struggle against t...
Zara’s New Executive Look May Be Tough to Carry Off
Markets

Zara’s New Executive Look May Be Tough to Carry Off

After years of taking a back seat, Zara’s founding family is firmly back in control of the Inditex clothing empire. The world’s biggest fashion retailer by sales announced a surprise board shake-up Tuesday. Executive Chairman Pablo Isla will step down at the end of March 2022 in favor of billionaire founder Amancio Ortega’s daughter Marta Ortega Pérez, who will take over as chairwoman. Óscar García Maceiras, a lawyer who joined Inditex from Spanish bank Banco Santander eight months ago, is becoming the new chief executive officer.
China’s Frozen Factories Warm Up, a Little
Markets

China’s Frozen Factories Warm Up, a Little

The Northern Hemisphere is firmly in the grip of winter—and potentially, a nasty new coronavirus variant. But Tuesday brought some good news for markets: Chinese factories are ramping up again. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index for November rallied to 50.1, breaching the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction for the first time since August. Nonetheless the improvement shouldn’t be overstated. The production subindex jumped sharply, likely due to fewer power curbs as the fall’s electricity shortages ease. But new orders remain subdued. And the service sector decelerated further, with business activity expanding at the weakest pace since February, excluding the sharp drop in August when the country was combating a Delta variant outbreak.
Oil Companies Got Their Hedges Clipped
Markets

Oil Companies Got Their Hedges Clipped

Investors are demanding more from oil companies this year: More spending discipline, more cash returns, more details around energy transition strategies. They should add one more thing to the list: More humility. After an auspicious year, a group of producers tracked by Raymond James reduced the share of production they hedged using derivatives by nearly a half for 2022 compared with this year. No wonder. With oil and natural gas prices recently hitting multiyear highs, this wasn’t a great year for energy companies to lock in the price at which they sold those commodities.
Stocks, Oil Rise as Investors Shrug Off Omicron Worries
Markets

Stocks, Oil Rise as Investors Shrug Off Omicron Worries

Stocks and oil prices bounced back from Friday’s selloff, with investors betting that the Omicron Covid-19 variant will cause less damage to the global economic recovery than initially feared. The S&P 500 jumped 1.3% as of the 4 p.m. close of trading Monday, recouping many of its losses after the index suffered its worst one-day percentage decline in nine months. Friday’s selloff came after South Africa identified a fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization named Omicron, and countries around the world responded with a fresh wave of travel restrictions.
Oil Prices Stabilize After Omicron-Driven Friday Selloff
Markets

Oil Prices Stabilize After Omicron-Driven Friday Selloff

Oil prices stabilized on Monday, clawing back some of their losses after a new variant of the coronavirus fueled crude’s worst trading session since April 2020. U.S. crude ended the day up 2.6% at $69.95 a barrel after previously rising as much as 6.9%, rebounding alongside stocks and other commodities following a Friday selloff driven by the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Oil fell 13% on Friday but is still up about 45% for the year.
For Jack Dorsey, It’s No Longer Hip to Be Square at Twitter
Markets

For Jack Dorsey, It’s No Longer Hip to Be Square at Twitter

It seems even Jack Dorsey has a character limit. After more than a year and a half of pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, Mr. Dorsey will step down as the chief executive officer of Twitter , the company said Monday. Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal will succeed Mr. Dorsey as CEO, effective immediately, the company also said, noting that Mr. Dorsey will remain a member of Twitter’s board until his term expires next year. Twitter’s stock was up immediately after the news, but lost steam later in the day.