Wall recovers – The S&P 500 is close to a record high

LAST UPDATE: 22.20

Volatility on the main Wall Street index on Wednesday, with optimism seem to prevail at the end of the session and the US stock market is heading to close with gains, extending its two-day uptrend rally.

Concerns about the coronavirus’s Micron mutation, which caused a major upheaval in global markets about ten days ago, seem to be allayed by some positive news that sends an encouraging signal that the impact from the new mutant strain will not .

The Dow Index is trading above 1,100 points in the last three sessions as investors chase opportunities in the aftermath of the sell-off following the announcement of the location of the new mutant.

“In theory, such strong gains are a sign of instability and should be treated with caution, but the good news is that volatility is declining and fears are gradually beginning to wane,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a Swissquote analyst.

The optimism in the investment environment is maintained today by the results of an “initial laboratory study” announced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which showed that their covid-19 vaccine neutralizes the Omicron mutation after three or two doses and the booster.

Blood plasma from people who received two doses of the vaccine had a 25-fold reduction in levels of anti-micron neutralizing antibodies compared to the original strain of the virus, the two companies said. The booster dose of the vaccine increases the antibodies, offering similar levels of protection as the two doses in the original virus strain and other variants.

“While both doses of the vaccine continue to provide protection against severe disease from the Omicron strain, it is clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved by a third dose of the vaccine,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Burla.

The conclusions of Pfizer and BioNTech broadly confirmed the preliminary study by the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa. The institute’s researchers announced yesterday that Omicron may partially escape the protection offered by the two doses of the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine, adding that a third dose is likely to help treat the highly mutated strain.

Meanwhile, yesterday GlaxoSmithKline announced that the antibody therapy against Covid-19 that it has developed with the American Vir Biotechnology is effective against all mutations of the new Omicron strain, according to the latest preclinical studies.

His performance 10-year government bond of the US adds about 2 basis points to 1.5% on Wednesday, while the dollar falls 0.2% to the ICE US Dollar.

Indicators – Statistics

On the dashboard, the industrial index Dow Jones strengthened by 0.08% to 35,750 points, the widest S&P 500 gains 0.29% to 4,700 points and is close to historic highs. The technological Nasdaq records gains of 0.54% at 15,770 points.

From 30 shares that make up the Dow, 15 stocks are moving with a positive sign and an equal number with a negative. Profits are led by Apple (+ 1.76%), Walt Disney (+ 1.63%) American Express (+ 1.43%) and Boeing (+ 1.62%), while the biggest losses are recorded by Cisco (- 1.78%) and Intel (-1.54%).

In the individual shares, the Chinese social networking company Weibo Corp. made its debut in Hong Kong with losses of 7.2% with its listed share in the US market following “in the red” losing 1.43%.

Stitch Fix is ​​down about 23% after the clothing retailer announced disappointing guidance.

Pfizer and BioNTech securities are trading at a loss of 0.5% and 2.9% respectively despite their optimistic announcements about the coronavirus vaccine.

Investor interest is focused on securities companies linked to the cryptocurrency market, including Coinbase, whose executives will report to Congress. Coinbase shares fell 0.22% on Wednesday.

Macro

At the macro of the day, vacancies in October in the US increased to 11 million. from 10.6 million last month, to the second highest level ever recorded. Vacancies have increased in accommodation and catering services, in non-permanent processing and in education.

According to the data announced today by the US Department of Labor, the resignations from jobs were moving at a slightly slower pace in October. In particular, about 4.2 million workers quit their jobs in October, slightly lower than the 4.4 million record last month.

The resignation rate fell to 2.8% from 3%, while resignations for private sector employees fell to 3.1% from 3.3%.

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