Hopes for a quiet end to the year for equity markets were upended by an accumulation of negatives that put an end to the post-Omicron resurgence. The culprits included Omicron itself, central banks plus a senator from West Virginia. The week started on a sour note when Sinovac, the Chinese Covid vaccine, was found to be relatively ineffective against Omicron – a result that has been reinforced by subsequent tests. This makes it very unlikely that China would be able to alter its zero-tolerance approach to Covid even if it wanted to, and increases the likelihood of Chinese factory closures, further global supply chain blockages and persistent inflation. Only the previous day, producer-price inflation in the US had risen to a record high for the eighth month in a row.

Stocks featured:

Airbnb

BNP Paribas

Expedia Group

Nike

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