Wow what a trouncing we got on this Black Friday, truly black as the Dow dropped over 900 points on still another big COVID scare from South Africa which bashed all global markets today. The clock has once again been turned back to March of 2020, when the first lockdown began. This time panic comes from a new variant that MAY be vaccine-resistant, though there remains considerable study to be done before this is validated. But as they always do ahead of the curve, the markets have reacted to a potentially fearful future. The VIX hit its highest point in two months. The one big bright spot: these numbers may be exaggerated due to the light holiday volume (9.1 billion.)  The one big dark spot:  without some good news over the weekend, we may see even worse come Monday. 

Fri  November 26, 2021  1:34 PM  

Stocks tumble on new coronavirus variant fear

By Chuck Mikolajczak

DJ: 35,804.38  -9.42          NAS: 15,845.23  +70.09         S&P: 4,701.46  +10.76     11/24

DJ: 34,899.34  -905.04      NAS: 15,491.66  -353.57        S&P: 4,594.62  -106.84    11/26

NEW YORK, Nov 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, with the Dow (.DJI) and S&P 500 (.SPX) suffering their biggest one-day percentage drops in months, and pandemic-hit sectors that have benefited from a reopening falling sharply after a new and potentially vaccine-resistant coronavirus mutation was found.  Authorities around the world reacted with alarm on Friday to the coronavirus variant found in South Africa, with the European Union and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to establish if the mutation was vaccine-resistant. read more

Cruise operators Carnival Corp (CCL.N), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL.N) and Norwegian Cruise Line each plunged more than 10%, while shares in United Airlines (UAL.O), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and American Airlines (AAL.O) also tumbled. The NYSE Arca Airline index (.XAL) saw its biggest one-day percentage decline in over a year.  Retailers fell as Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season, kicked off as the new variant fueled concerns about low store traffic and inventory issues. read more 

Selling was broad, with big declines in all 11 major S&P sectors except healthcare (.SPXHC), which fell slightly thanks to strong gains in COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O).  "It is déjà vu all over again for like the eighth time," said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Global Investments in Atlanta.  "What we understand about this variant could accelerate over the weekend, if there is more concerning news than good news, a lot of people don't want to be holding risk assets on Monday morning, or are afraid of what that could look like Monday morning."  Despite the sell-off, market participants noted the drop was likely exaggerated by the thin volume during the shortened post-Thanksgiving holiday session.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 905.04 points, or 2.53%, to 34,899.34, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 106.84 points, or 2.27%, to 4,594.62 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 353.57 points, or 2.23%, to 15,491.66.  The domestically focused Russell 2000 small-cap index (.RUT) tumbled more than 3%.  The S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK) plummeted as investors dialed back expectations of faster U.S. interest rate hikes.

Elevated U.S. inflation, coupled with strong economic data and the renomination of Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve chair by U.S. President Joe Biden, had fueled expectations the central bank may have to hike interest rates earlier than it had been forecasting.  The CBOE volatility index (.VIX), popularly known as Wall Street's fear gauge, hit its highest level since Sept. 20.

Stocks such as Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), Peloton Interactive (PTON.O) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM.O), known as "Stay-at-home" names all saw solid advances.