The recent announcement by South African scientists of a new COVID-19 variant has sparked fears across the globe, leading to a market sell-off and heightened anxiety about a pandemic entering its second winter. The variant, currently referred to as B.1.1.529, was discovered in Botswana and has already been reported in South Africa, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Israel. There have been numerous variants since the coronavirus first emerged, but the B.1.1.529 has drawn considerable attention because of… Source link

Shoppers typically bear the brunt of Black Friday frenzy while clamoring over discounted holiday merchandise, but concerns over the new COVID variant gave investors and traders a dollop of holiday volatility Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Index (^DJI) settled down 905 points (2.53%) in its worst post-Thanksgiving Day performance since 1931. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC), meanwhile, turned in their worst-ever returns post-Turkey Day. Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist… Source link

The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s (^DJI) worst daily plunge of the year sparked a split among market strategists on wether Friday was a good buying opportunity.  The index closed down more than 900 points, while the broader S&P 500 (^GSPC) average declined 2.27%. Energy, financials and industrial stocks led the markets lower amid concerns of a new COVID variant first detected in southern Africa.  “To the extent this is not as big as Delta was ultimately, then I think maybe it’s a little bit… Source link

This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2021, our list of ideas, by topic, by recipient and by price, to help you discover the perfect gift.

Travel platform Expedia (EXPE) and home sharing site Airbnb (ABNB) are two of the stocks swept into the market sell-off on Friday over concerns of a COVID variant first detected in southern Africa. Expedia, the fifth-worst performer in the S&P 500, dropped as much as 11% during the shortened trading day on Friday. Shares closed 9% lower at $159.80 each. Airbnb’s stock closed the session down more than 3% at $173.86. Travel reservation platform Booking Holdings (BKNG) also declined more than 7%… Source link

The emergence of a new COVID variant spooked markets on Friday, forcing some Fed watchers to question if the Federal Reserve will change course on its plans to slow its monetary support to the U.S. economy. “Policy normalization already looked like it was going to be gradual but the… growth worries we’re seeing come back into the market’s consciousness in the last 24 hours could mean that monetary policy needs to be a little bit more dovish than that,” HSBC Asset Management Chief… Source link

Apple and Google have been fined €10 million apiece by Italy’s competition and market authority (AGCM) which has found they did not provide their users with clear enough information on commercial uses of their data — in violation of the country’s consumer code. The regulator also accuses the pair of deploying “aggressive” practices to push users to accept the commercial processing. Apple and Google were both contacted for a response to the ACGM’s sanction. Both said they… Source link

If President Biden has nightmares, he probably wakes up in the middle of the night terrified of gasoline prices. Rising gas prices — up 50% during the last year to around $3.50 per gallon — compelled Biden to announce the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the U.S. national stockpile on Nov. 23. Before the announcement, crude oil futures traded at around $76 a barrel. After the Biden announcement, crude futures spiked to about $78 a barrel. Whoops. Prices went up rather than down… Source link

Cryptocurrency miners are using compromised Google Cloud accounts for computationally-intensive mining purposes, Google has warned. The search giant’s cybersecurity team provided details in a report published Wednesday. The so-called “Threat Horizons” report aims to provide intelligence that allows organizations to keep their cloud environments secure. “Malicious actors were observed performing cryptocurrency mining within compromised Cloud instances,” Google wrote in an executive summary of… Source link

Cryptocurrency miners are using hacked Google Cloud accounts for computationally-intensive mining purposes, Google has warned. The search giant’s cybersecurity team provided details of the security breach in a report published Wednesday. The so-called “Threat Horizons” report aims to provide intelligence that allows organizations to keep their cloud environments secure. “Malicious actors were observed performing cryptocurrency mining within compromised Cloud instances,” Google wrote in an Source link