Thousands of flights canceled!
Finally, we are in the last week of 2021! In the last weeks, we had many reports that Omicron is not dangerous as Delta or other corona variants used to be. On the other hand, it is spreading so fast, therefore we had many Pilots and flight crew that either infected or were in contact with infected people, and now they ate in quarantine, which means we do have not enough human resources and specialists to handle the situation.
Market reaction was expected. VIX Chart increased a bit above 22, US 10-years bond yields decreased slightly to 1.48%. In the stock markets, Nikkei-225 lost 0.25% in the first trading hours, while Shanghai and Hang Seng, both increased by 0.15%. US futures also after the first hour gain, now trading a bit lower and flat. Lower liquidity in the market following the absence of big players also on the other hand can increase the market risk and caution trades.
Today markets in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, and Britain are closed due to Christmas Holidays.
In the forex markets, the US dollar index increased by 0.1% to 96.06. After hitting a 16-month high in November as Federal Reserve policymakers turned more hawkish, the US Dollar index eased a bit with lower market risk and great economic data that signaling of better economic growth, however, DXY still trading in a clear uptrend.
In the crude market, US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 59 cents to $73.00 a barrel. Omicron's concerns weigh on the Energy market. However, according to the OPEC monthly report, the organization is optimistic that the impact of the mutant virus on oil demand will be "moderate and short-lived." In addition, some member states may not be able to fully fulfill their promises to increase production. Eventually, the oil market will tend to "The situation of tight supply." Not only that, but due to inflationary pressures, rising costs continue to affect drilling companies. Although active oil drilling in the United States has reached its highest level since April last year, production is still well below the 13 million barrels per day. The oil prices may maintain their upward trend due to supply shortages.
