US Stocks fall on Omicron spreads, Fed decision looms

The US moved notably lower on Monday, 13 December 2021, with the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq all finishing below neutral line.

The decline on the Wall Street came as investors cashed in on some of the strength seen in the markets last week amid worried about the Omicron coronavirus variant and caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's money policy announcement on Wednesday.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 320.04 points, or 0.89%, to 35,650.95. The S&P500 index dropped 43.05 points, or 0.91%, to 4,668.97. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 217.32 points, or 1.39%, to 15,413.28.

Total volume turnover on U.S. exchanges stood at 9.34 billion shares. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 1025 to 2337 and 154 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1311 issues advanced, 3365 issues declined, and 213 issues unchanged.

Total 7 of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing issues were energy (down 2.77%), consumer discretionary (down 2.44%), information technology (down 1.62%), and financials (down 1.15%), while top performing issues included real estate (up 1.32%), utilities (up 1.2%), and healthcare (up 0.9%).

Investors were cautiously awaiting for the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell policy meeting announcement to know a quickening of its monthly bond purchase tapering program, as it seeks to combat an ongoing rise in inflation. The Fed is on Wednesday expected to signal a faster wind-down of its $120 billion a month bond buying programme in a move to fight high inflation, which could move it one step closer to raising interest rates.

Fears over the Omicron variant of COVID-19 were heightened after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a tidal wave of new cases, and the World Health Organization said it poses a very high global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection.

Travel-related stocks fell, with the fast-spreading variant accounting for around 40% of Covid-19 infections in London and at least one death in the United Kingdom. Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean Cruises all dropped more than 5%.

Arena Pharmaceuticals shares soared up after Pfizer agreed to acquire the biotechnology firm for $6.7 billion, or $100 per share. Arena Pharmaceuticals develops CAR-T technology and is developing a drug for ulcerative colitis.

Among Indian ADR, Wipro fell 0.23% to $8.65, INFOSYS fell 2.5% to $22.61, HDFC Bank dropped 0.37% to $65.10, WNS Holdings fell 0.63% to $85.30, Tata Motors declined 2.44% to $31.95, and ICICI Bank sank 1.26% to $19.65. Azure Power Global rose 5% to $19.10 and Dr Reddys Labs rose 0.31% to $60.63.

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