Omicron Covid Update: Risk takes a hit as new variant grips the US

Asia witnesses a turnaround in the market sentiment, as risk trades take a hit from the growing spread of the highly contagious Omicron covid variant in the US.

After a case of the new strain detected in California a day ago, Los Angeles reported its first case in the last hour.

Earlier on, Hawaii confirmed a single Omicron covid strain case while New York State registered five cases. Although all fives cases reported are said to be mild.

In light of escalating concerns over the new variant, the US has announced a mandatory COVID-19 test a day prior to departure for travelers inbound to the country from December 6.

To soothe these discouraging headlines, investors remain hopeful that vaccines will remain effective or can be adjusted.

According to Bloomberg, “A UK study testing seven different COVID-19 vaccines as booster doses found most of them increased antibodies, with shots from Moderna Inc. and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership performing best.”

Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline said Its COVID-19 antibody drug, Sotrovimab, is likely effective against the Omicron variant.

Market reaction

As of writing, the Asian stocks are trading mixed, weighed by the negative momentum in the Japanese and Australian indices.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 futures are down 0.40% on the day. The high beta AUD/USD is losing 0.30% on the day to trade near yearly lows sub-0.7100.