Today’s Market Movements
Denmark: OMX:C25 (-0.91%) ; Sweden: OMX:S30 (-4.0%) ; Norway: OBX:OSL (-3.35%) ; S&P 500 (-2.12%) ; Nasdaq (-1.92%)
Markets today extend the week’s negative momentum, as fears over the newly detected South Africa variant of Covid-19 take hold. Scientists have detected ten mutations on the spike protein of this strain. Comparatively, the delta variant had two. The spike protein is what the virus uses to enter cells and crucially is the part of the virus the vaccine targets. Therefore, scientists fear this strain could bypass the vaccine. The prospect of widespread lockdowns in conjunction with rising inflation has put the prospect of stagflation back on the table. Brent crude prices fell 9% today following news the new strain has been detected in Europe; lockdowns would see oil demand plummet as they did in 2020.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index fell 3.3%, extending weekly losses to over 4%, the C25 closed another 0.9% down, also taking weekly losses to over 4%. After a Thanksgiving break, Wall St reopened for a shortened trading day today – investors wished it hadn’t. At the time of writing, the S&P 500 is down 2.1%, and the Nasdaq is down 1.9%. The progression of the new Covid-19 will inevitably dominate headlines for the foreseeable future as the world once more stares into the unknown.
Elsewhere Bitcoin fell over 7% as the digital asset was unable to escape today’s turmoil. The decline takes Bitcoin to over 20% from its all-time high that it reached only last week.
Today’s snacks
Aktier med Friis today covered many of the topics discussed above as the HCA equity analysts put a perspective on what the current Covid-19 situation means for some of the clients on the HCA platform. Catch the episode here: https://lnkd.in/djyAq4VY.
Sanistål A/S, earlier today, announced that they have hired a new CEO to replace Christian B. Lund, who has been part of the management group for some 20 years. The new CEO – Claudio Christensen, comes with a strong IT and Sales background. He has been with IBM for several years and has also held a position with peer company Solar Group. CFO Uffe Iversen will act as CEO until Claudio Christensen commences his new duties on 1 January 2022. As part of his resignation Christian B. Lund will receive severance pay which Sanistål will book in 2021 and is therefore adjusting EBITDA expectations for 2021 to now DKK 150-180m (from DKK 160-190m)
Disclaimer: HC Andersen Capital receives payment from the companies for a #DigitalIR agreement.
