Covid Mutation Omicron Tanks Markets

A new variant of Covid, Omicron, tanked the Markets the day after Thanksgiving. The new mutation, which is potentially more transmissible, was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 905.04 points, or 2.53%, for its worst day of the year, closing at 34,899.34. The S&P 500 lost 2.27% to close at 4,594.62, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.23% to finish at 15,491.66. The Dow was down more than 1,000 points at session lows.

But was this knee-jerk reaction right? We do not think so. This appears to be a buying opportunity. The Omicron variant is reported to be very mild. This week will will see what the markets think but we are optimistic that we will see a significant rebound.

Tom Lee, co-founder of research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, seemed to also dismiss the markets reaction as way too oversold.