Reuters
Marketmind: It’s looking like a Black Friday
COVID-19, a worry that investors had pushed down their list of top concerns in recent months, has soared back up to the number one spot as a new variant spreads across South Africa. Asia stocks outside Japan slid over 2%, Europe and U.S. stock futures are down sharply, oil prices drops almost 3.5%, the safe-haven yen is up around three-quarters of a percent, and U.S. Treasury yields are down almost 10 basis points. Thin liquidity following Thursday’s U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday likely exacerbates price moves for sure, but there’s little doubt overnight headlines have taken markets by surprise on Friday.
