US markets close lower on worries about new covid variant

27 Nov 2021 Evaluate

The US markets closed lower on Friday for the holiday-interrupted week, the major averages fell to their lowest closing levels in at least a month, following reports a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant has been detected in South Africa. The news, which comes amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases in Europe, raised concerns the pandemic could continue to wreak havoc on the global economy. The U.K. has issued a temporary ban on flights from six African countries in reaction to the new variant, which has also been detected in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong. The World Health Organization will hold a special meeting to discuss if the heavily mutated strain will become a variant of interest or a variant of concern. Light volume may have exacerbated the steep drop on Wall Street, as some traders remained away from their desks ahead of an early close by the markets.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also have kept traders on the sidelines ahead of next week's closely watched monthly jobs report. Airline stocks moved sharply lower amid concerns about new travel restrictions, resulting in a 6.5 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index plummeted to its lowest closing level in over ten months. Substantial weakness was also visible among energy stocks. Reflecting the sell-off by energy stocks, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index sank by 5.7 percent, the NYSE Arca Oil Index slumped by 4.3 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index dove by 3 percent. Banking stocks are also significant weakness amid a steep drop by treasury yields. Brokerage, steel and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 905.04 points or 2.53 percent to 34,899.34, Nasdaq fell 353.57 points or 2.23 percent to 15,491.66 and S&P 500 was down by 106.84 points or 2.27 percent to 4,594.62.

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