Stock Markets Plummet Amidst Omicron Crisis

As the Omicron crisis continues to escalate, the fear is reflected in the world’s stock markets. After the plunge reported in Europe and Asia, Wall Street is now joining the show.

Financial markets were already having a lousy time mainly because of the increased inflation rates in the United States. In the middle of that crisis, the S&P is about 1.7% down — a 500-points drop in the early afternoon trades on Monday.

In the energy sector, especially the oil producers’ stocks, fell sharply after the price of US crude fell 4.9%. Markets are almost certain of a potential death blow to the proposed $2 billion spending plan by the US government and the Federal Reserve’s momentous move last week to accelerate its exit from the tremendous support it is providing on the economy.

At the same time, the Omicron-scare-fuelled market in Canada has also been following a downward spiral since last week. On Friday, the Canadian dollar traded at 77.85 compared to the US dollar, but that is now trading at 77.18. The Canadian stock market TSX and the S&P composite index (S&P/TSX) are down 322.67 at 20,416. 52.

The fear of Omicron is echoing on the stock markets worldwide. In Canada, daily new cases are more than 7500. That number is expected to keep going up as the holiday season approaches. Though the governments are taking rigid restrictions, those measures won’t be enough to tackle the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant in the country.

However, people trading at Wall Street and in financial turmoil across the globe are looking forward to a fresh and upward trend in the new year.