US stocks opened sharply lower on Tuesday, with investors worried about the ability of existing vaccines to cope with a surge in the new Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus.
The major indexes closed higher on Monday on Wall Street after President Joe Biden reassured investors that the lockdown was unfounded and there would be no new travel restrictions.
However, sentiment suddenly turned negative early Tuesday after Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) chief Stephane Bancel stated, in an interview with the Financial Times, that existing vaccines would be in trouble. difficult to deal with the omicron variation, predicting a reduction in their efficiency.
He also warned that it will be many months before drug manufacturers can produce injectable drugs specifically to deal with the new variant in sufficient quantities to be effective.
Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) added on Tuesday that its analysis suggests its anti-Covid-19 antibody may not be effective against the Omicron variant.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has stated, in preparatory testimony released Monday, that the Omicron variant poses risks to both the central bank's mandate to achieve stable prices and maximum employment.
Investors will see if the Fed chief adds to these comments when he appears before the Senate Banking Committee late Tuesday.
Moving on to the corporate sector, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) will be in the spotlight a day after founder and CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed he's stepping down from his role at the social media giant , to be replaced by Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal.
In addition, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) will also be in the spotlight after the UK competition regulator directed Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, to sell the animation platform Giphy for competitive reasons.
Crude oil prices fell as concerns over Omicron returned, with traders worried about new lockdowns and the associated impact on global demand.
That said, expectations are rising for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, to keep their plans to raise another 400,000 bpd in January when This organization meets on weekends.