Wake Up Wall Street (SPY) (QQQ): Joe Manchin, Omicron play equity grinches

Ivan Brian FXStreet

Here is what you need to know on Friday, December 17:

Equity markets retreated on Thursday as renewed fears over Omicron hit sentiment and Build Back Better looks unlikely to pass this year if at all. Infrastructure and green stocks were disproportionally knocked down a peg, and Tesla (TSLA) nearly reached our $910 target. President Biden and Senator Manchin are reportedly still miles away from reaching an agreement on the plan. This will hit stocks further in the new year if not sorted soon.

The Nasdaq was the big loser, index wise, on Thursday, as rate hike probabilities fed through to institutional investor positioning. Yield sensitive, unprofitable names will likely struggle, but so-called new defensives also struggled. The poster child for this new breed of cash-rich, defensive stocks, Apple (AAPL) fell 4% on Thursday.

The dollar, meanwhile, has reset and is stronger this morning at 1.1310 versus the euro. Bitcoin is $47,100, and oil is at $71.19, despite Goldman forecasting record demand for 2022 and 2023.

See Forex Today.

European markets are lower: Eurostoxx -0.85, FTSE +0.2% and Dax -15.

US futures are lower: S&P -0.6%, Dow -0.45 and Nasdaq -1%.

Wall Street (SPY) (QQQ) news

Record high for UK covid cases on Thursday.

Rivian (RIVN): Q3 earnings and production shortfall see stock fall 9%.

Tesla (TSLA): Elon sells more stock.

Apple (AAPL) slides 4% on Thursday.

FedEx (FDX) up 5% on reinstating 2022 forecasts.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. CEO to retire in May.

Freshpet (FRPT) down 11% on lower guidance.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Moderna (MRNA), Pfizer (PFE), BioNTech (BNTX): US FDA recommends booster shots use only Moderna or Pfizer. JNJ down 2% premarket.

Novavax (NVAX): WHO issues emergency use listing.

US Steel (X) issues lower guidance than forecast, falls 4%.

Affirm (AFRM) down 2% as US launches probe into Buy Now Pay Later credit.

Cerner (CERN) up 18% on WSJ article that Oracle (ORCL) is in talks to buy it.

Upgrades and downgrades

Source: Benzinga Pro

Economic releases

Like this article? Help us with some feedback by answering this survey:

Premium

You have reached your limit of 3 free articles for this month.

Start your subscription and get access to all our original articles.

Subscribe to Premium Sign In

Author

Ivan Brian

FXStreet

Ivan Brian started his career with AIB Bank in corporate finance and then worked for seven years at Baxter. He started as a macro analyst before becoming Head of Research and then CFO.

EUR/USD deflates to fresh lows, targets 1.1600

The selling pressure on EUR/USD now gathers extra pace, prompting the pair to hit fresh multi-week lows in the 1.1625-1.1620 band on Friday. The continuation of the downward bias comes in response to further gains in the US Dollar as market participants continue to assess the mixed release of US Nonfarm Payrolls in December.

GBP/USD breaks below 1.3400, challenges the 200-day SMA

GBP/USD remains under heavy fire and retreats for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. Indeed, Cable suffers the strong performance of the Greenback, intensified post-mixed NFP, and trades at shouting distance from its critical 200-day SMA near 1.3380.

Gold flirts with yearly tops around $4,500

Gold keeps its positive bias on Friday, adding to Thursday’s advance and challenging yearly highs in the $4,500 region per troy ounce. The risk-off sentiment favours the yellow metal despite the firmer tone in the Greenback and rising US Treasury yields.