European stocks rose while Wall Street stocks mixed after investors brushed aside concerns about travel disruptions and store closures due to the Omicron variant.
In addition, the crude oil market to the stock market is seen recovering from losses at the end of November due to Omicron which has made investors turn to look for safe investment assets.
Meanwhile, more countries will postpone travel restrictions by the end of the year and concerns about declining variance have prompted investors to turn to riskier assets.
MSCI’s worldwide share gauge hit 0.09% at a level approaching record highs last month and the pan-European STOXX 600 added 0.62% at the close of a 5-week high.
The average Dow Jones Industrial Avarage index was up 0.26%, the S&P 500 was down 0.10%and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.56%.
Japan’s Nikkei hit a 1-month high and the MSCI Asia-Pacific broad index outside Japan closed higher at 0.44%.
The MSCI world equity index is up 17% this year and for 2022 investors are taking precautionary measures on the risk of rising price pressures, slower corporate earnings growth and the possibility of a US rate hike cycle.
U.S. crude oil prices rose 0.75% at $ 76.14 a barrel and Brent oil prices rose 0.73% at $ 79.17 a barrel despite a significant increase in Omicron cases as well as supply disruptions and expectations of U.S. inventories falling last week.
The euro was down 0.16% while the dollar index was up 0.112% and the 10 -year benchmark note was down 1/32 in yield price of 1.4842%.
2 -year treasury yields rose to their highest level since March 2020 when expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) were getting close to raising rates.
Gold retreated after hitting a 1 -month high on inflation concerns while the gloomy development of the crypto market, Bitcoin fell 6.07%.
