Stocks fell and oil prices plunged more than 10% on Friday as the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant rattled global markets.
US markets, which were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, were slammed during Friday’s shortened trading session. The Dow fell more than 1,000 points or 2.8%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down nearly 2%.
Asian markets led the way, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 2.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 2.5%. European markets also sold off heavily, with major indexes including the FTSE100, France’s CAC40 and Germany’s DAX falling between 3% and 4%.
US oil futures sank by more than 11% to trade below $70 a barrel. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, suffered a similar drop to around $73.
The new variant has been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel, prompting some countries to put flight bans in place.
While “volatility with high frequency markets is the norm these days,” CNN international business correspondent Richard Quest said, markets will likely be affected for a longer amount of time.
“Longer term, yes, I also would expect the markets to be volatile and to be jittery … because the markets don’t like uncertainty,” he said.
Source: www.cnn.com