DOW market futures were down in early trading on Tuesday as investors continue to face Omicron variant uncertainty. With markets having rebounded on Monday, this represents another quick 180 degree turn.
NASDAQ futures were down by 74.5 in premarket trading, while S&P500 futures had dropped by 47.25. This seems to coincide with investors realising just how damaging the new COVID variant could be.
The main concern is that mutations have made it vaccine resistant, a worry amplified by Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) CEO, Stephane Bancel, who told the Financial Times that a jab for Omicron could take months to develop.
This uncertainty is likely to continue for some days, with investors trying to puzzle out the potential impact of a mutated COVID wave.
| NASDAQ | S&P500 | Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| 16,399.24 (+2.33%) | 4,655.27 (+1.32%) | 56,911.08 (-0.48%) |
Here are some of the top stories from the stock market:
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) announced that its CEO and cofounder, Jack Dorsey, will step down to be replaced by the social media giant’s chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal. Twitter’s share price has dipped following the news.
Gene therapy developer Krystal Biotech (NASDAQ: KRYS) surged after the company reported positive results from a trial of its Vyjuvek skin treatment and announced a proposed $200m public offering of common stock.
Adagio Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ADGI) was also higher after it said the new Omicron variant was not likely to have resistance to its COVID antibody.
Similarly, Ibio (NYSE: IBIO) has climbed after indicating that its vaccine candidate should still be effective against the variant.
Lithium Americas (NASDAQ: LAC) climbed after analysts at National Bank Financial gave the stock an outperform rating.
Shares of Petros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PTPI) leapt by more than 90% on Monday in what appeared to be a short squeeze formulated on social media.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has switched the CPUs for its Model Y vehicle from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) branded chips to AMD’s (NASDAQ: AMD) Ryzen processors. The manufacturer’s Model S has already switched to the rival chip brand.
Meanwhile, here is some of the day’s big crypto news:
Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin climbed after online retailer Newegg (NASDAQ: NEGG) confirmed it would accept the cryptocurrency.
Additionally, the coin’s ambassador, Shytoshi Kusama, teased the idea of a Shiba Inu themed game on the metaverse.
Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to rebound from a sharp Omicron-related dip over the weekend before falling back overnight. Some major transactions went ahead, with tech firm MicroStrategy hoovering up $400m-worth of the coin.
In the UK, the Premier League’s governing body will investigate relationships between top-flight football clubs and cryptocurrency partners amid concern over a lack of regulation.