European stock markets rebounded on Monday after what was a bleak ending to last week’s trading. Stocks plummeted before markets closed on Friday as news emerged of the new Omicron coronavirus strain. Originally detected in South Africa, the strain has been located in 14 countries so far and is stirring up major uncertainty for investors.
After researchers determined the Omicron variant to contain up to 30 identified mutations, the World Health Organization arranged to call an emergency meeting in order to discuss vaccine efficacy and other forms of treatment.
The FTSE 100 gained 0.9% after opening, while the CAC and DAX managed to rise by 1.3% and 1.2% respectively. While it has not yet been confirmed whether the latest variant is more deadly than the Delta strain or not, Michael Hewson of CMC Markets noted that the Omicron strain received the largest market reaction of all variants to date. In Hewson’s view, this reaction may have been excessive.
“We’ve always known that new variants could well be a problem, and yet over the past 12 months there have been many reports of possible candidates that might be a concern that has come and gone without getting the sort of market reaction we saw on Friday,” Hewson explained.
In the United States, S&P 500 futures gained 0.9% while Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures rose by 0.7% and 1.1% respectively.
