European stocks may open higher on Tuesday, though trading is likely to remain somewhat subdued, heading into the holiday season.
Asian stocks bounced back from the previous session’s sell-off, with Japanese and Indian markets leading the surge as investors await U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement on new steps he is taking to fight the Omicron variant.
There is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Omicron accounted for 73 percent of new infections in the U.S. last week, a nearly six-fold increase in only seven days.
The European Union approved its fifth Covid-19 vaccine Monday as new infections multiply rapidly across the region. In Asia, cases of coronavirus have surged in Australia and South Korea.
The dollar index eased and Treasury yields softened after a blow to Democratic spending plans in Washington. Oil advanced after two days of declines while Bitcoin hovered around $49,000 mark.
It’s a relatively quiet day ahead on the Eurozone’s economic calendar, with Germany’s GfK consumer climate figures for January and flash Eurozone consumer confidence data likely to be in focus.
U.S. stocks fell overnight on concerns that the new coronavirus strain could derail the global economic recovery. Concerns about the deadlock over U.S. President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion investment bill also dented sentiment.
The Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both dropped around 1.2 percent while the S&P 500 shed 1.1 percent.
European stocks ended notably lower on Monday as investors reacted to tighter restrictions in Europe amid rapidly surging Omicron Covid-19 cases.
The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 1.4 percent. The German DAX gave up 1.9 percent, France’s CAC 40 index fell 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 lost 1 percent.
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