Omicron less scary

The week started badly, but optimism seems to be prevailing again. The Omicron variant is still spreading at an extremely high rate (over 100k per day in the UK for example) but new studies confirm what the data showed from the beginning in South Africa: this variant is much less aggressive than the Delta variants. According to these studies, people affected by Omicron have up to a 70-80% reduced risk of being hospitalised. But this does not necessarily prevent hospitals from being under pressure during the peak of the epidemic if the number of people infected is much higher than in previous waves.

Among the few economic reports published yesterday, we note the rebound in US consumer confidence, notably due to a moderation in inflation expectations. This turnaround remains to be confirmed.

The calendar is full of data today in the US, before a long weekend: jobless claims, household consumption, new home sales and durable goods orders in November and finally, the other consumer survey: the University of Michigan’s. Equity markets and interest rates are up and the dollar is down: the EUR/USD exchange rate is back above 1.13.