The new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, was in effect in the United States (US) on Wednesday after being first identified by a doctor in South Africa and has been a factor that has shocked the market since last week.
So far there are some physicians who say existing vaccines are capable of fighting such variants and some say otherwise.
However, the emergence of such variants has resulted in turbulent markets with news that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will accelerate tightening measures to stabilize inflation as well as slow down the global economic recovery.
Shares are rising because of Omicron
So far, it is reported that glove stocks are on the rise with local glove manufacturers, Top Glove Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd, bouncing back on cheap hunting activity after investors took profits in recent days.
Top Glove's share price has risen to its current level from its closing price of RM2.25 last Thursday on Nov 25 while Hartalega has risen to its current level from its closing price of RM5.13.
The increase is because it has been closely monitored since the Covid-19 outbreak began in early 2020 because gloves are an important personal protective equipment to curb the spread of the outbreak.
Stocks are plummeting because of Omicron
Technology stocks have plummeted since the emergence of the Omicron variant with big names like Google, Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft closing low.
The Dow Jones Industries average was down 651 points, the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.6% and the S&P 500 was down 1.9% on Tuesday after the Fed discussed accelerating a reduction in bond purchases in December.
Only Apple shares showed an upward performance among the technology stocks with analysts saying the rise in the stock was due to Apple having exceptional cash flow.
The stock that was the target of investors following Omicron hit
Citing a source from CNBC News, Jim Cramer a news presenter had said on Wednesday about stocks that investors should pay attention to after the market slumped following news of Omicron’s first case in the US.
Among the stocks mentioned by Cramer are stocks:
Disney is ‘iconic’ and has the potential to ‘explode’ due to the introduction of Disney+
PayPal which will end its alliance with eBay in the coming quarter and open a new leaf
Mastercard which will benefit by increasing its share purchase program by $ 8 billion and raising dividends by 11%
