Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, volatility was expected to increase as the virus progressed, and as a result of the measures that governments would have to impose to control it. There have already been several waves, with the Delta variant having a significant impact on the reopening of economies, which was taking place at a remarkable pace, and despite the risk of an increase in infected cases, particularly in Europe and the USA, because of this In this variant, what is certain is that the world was already operating at a pace very close to normal, with many countries having completely abolished the restrictions.
And if normality was not greater, it was due to the constraints that the pandemic caused on the supply side of the economy, whether in products or services, resulting not only from the lack of raw materials but also in the workforce, which placed extraordinary pressure in inflation, pushing the price increase to a level not experienced for a long time, prompting the Fed to give the starting shot to normalize its monetary policy, thus trying to dampen demand, but without compromising the economic recovery. But history is full of surprises, and once again a knock at the door, unfortunately, at a time when the main economies already have a high degree of inoculation with the vaccine against COVID, either the regular dose or the booster.
The emergence of a new strain of virus in South Africa has sounded the alarm bells of investors, caught off guard on the holiday, and in the absence of concrete information about the potential disruption of the new variant, Omicron, the first action was as of customary selling, forcing Wall Street to one of the worst records in history the day after Thanksgiving. On Monday, after the reflection of the weekend, the feeling was lighter, however, nervousness is on the surface, fomenting another wave of extraordinary volatility, which will feed in the coming weeks with the news that will come out depending on whether you learn more about Omicron’s malignant potential.
