European stock markets made some gains at the start of trading on Monday as investors showed a bit more optimism as they grappled with the implications of the latest wave of Covid on growth prospects. So far, the Omicron variant doesn’t seem particularly dangerous or deadly. The FTSE 100 added around 0.9% to meet short-term resistance at the 50% retracement of the November high to around 7,190. The DAX and Stoxx 600 also rose nearly 1% on the during the first hour of trading in the middle of a fairly light session in terms of news. Omicron’s volatility persists but signs are not worsening – early data from South Africa indicates hospital admissions are not increasing with the number of cases.

Asian stocks were mixed with investors forecasting a further 20% drop in shares of Evergrande (3333) because he warned that there was no guarantee that he would be able to pay the coupons. Ali Baba (9988) shares fell 5% in Hong Kong as it announced a reshuffle in its global e-commerce business and said its longtime CFO resigned.

Technology led the US market lower in a tough session Friday for Wall Street, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 down 2%. The S&P 500 ended down 0.84% ​​and the Dow Jones lost just 60 points. We’ve seen a big drag in technology, especially very high growth names – very crowded long positions getting squeezed mercilessly. ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), the flagship fund, fell another 5% and now stands at -40% from its peak at the start of the year. You’re here (TSLA) decreased by 6 percent, but Adobe (0R2Y) was the worst performer, slipping 8% after its electronic signature rival DocuSign (0XNH) warned that demand was cooling in space. Have I got (HAVE I GOT) fell 22% after announcing it would withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange.

Friday’s jobs report was mixed – a disappointing figure but encouraging unemployment levels and wages not spiraling out of control. The market’s reaction has been to buy Treasuries, with the 10-year rate falling back to 1.38% this morning, but there is no indication the Fed will not increase the speed of its typing when it meets. this month.

Today’s data is light, the focus is on printing the US CPI later this week – given the Fed’s increasingly astonishing turn in terms of reporting on inflation, it should be very high. The Fed has already made a decisive pivot to a more hawkish, anti-inflationary stance; and the market will see this reading from that angle.

Bitcoin took a heavy hit over the weekend as the sharp contraction in liquidity led to a major removal of leveraged positions. Prices are currently trading below $ 50,000, with a low to $ 43,000 at one point as the market slumped 20%.

Neil Wilson was the Chief Market Analyst at marketplaces.com