Black Friday Saw More Selling Than Buying In Financial Markets

Black Friday Saw More Selling Than Buying In Financial Markets

On Friday, the market experienced broad selling across stocks, yields, and commodities. The news of the omicron COVID-19 variant triggered some panic selling on a low-volume day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) fell 2. 5%, which was the biggest one-day drop since October of 2020. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 2. 3% and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:GIDS) fell 2. 2%. In other markets, Crude oil (/CL) fell more than 11% and the 10-year Treasury Yield (TNX) dropped to 1. 48% from 1. 64%. However, it appears that cooler heads may be prevailing as equity index futures and oil prices are rebounding ahead of the open. With more investors returning from the holiday, the market can better discount the severity of the news. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) which had spiked above 28 has dropped more than 15% before the open. Of course, the omicron variant is new, and more news will be coming out, so we aren't out of the woods yet. The variant news didn't seem to keep consumers out of the stores because brick-and-mortar stores saw more shoppers spending more time and money than last year. According to the Wall Street Journal, there were fewer discounts because