European markets finish mixed ahead of the holiday weekend

[OZER]

London's FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.2%, while the French CAC finished 0.3% lower.
Markets in Germany, Italy and Switzerland were closed to mark the Christmas holiday.
It comes as market players juggle concerns over coronavirus restrictions and tighter central bank policy with signs that the heavily mutated omicron strain of the virus is milder than earlier variants like delta.

LONDON — European markets ended the day in mixed territory after a thin trading session on Christmas Eve, as traders kept a watchful eye on the latest developments around the omicron Covid variant.

London's FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.2%, while the French CAC finished 0.3% lower. Markets in Germany, Italy and Switzerland were closed to mark the Christmas holiday.

It comes as market players juggle concerns over coronavirus restrictions and tighter central bank policy with signs that the heavily mutated omicron strain of the virus is milder than earlier variants like delta.

New studies in South Africa and the U.K. this week suggest omicron has a reduced risk of hospitalization and severe illness.

According to the South Africa research, which is not peer-reviewed, people infected with omicron are 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital compared with other variants. However, the authors said this may be due in part to higher immunity in the population, while South African health officials cautioned that the data should not be extrapolated to all countries.

A separate study in Scotland, also not peer-reviewed, suggests omicron is two-thirds less likely to result in hospitalization compared with delta. The U.K. Health Security Agency backed up the findings Thursday, saying someone with omicron was 50-70% less likely to be admitted to hospital.

Governments are searching for clues on the severity of the new variant, which is ripping through numerous countries much more rapidly than previous mutations. Authorities are worried the health system could come under huge pressure over the winter period amid what is now the fourth wave of infections.

Traders are also weighing the potential for tighter liquidity in 2022, with the Federal Reserve targeting an aggressive tapering of its huge stimulus program and three rate hikes.

The Bank of England is also taking a hawkish approach, becoming the first major central bank to hike interest rates since the pandemic began, while the European Central Bank is looking more cautious.

In Asia, markets were mixed Friday. Some major markets in the region, including Hong Kong and Singapore, close early for Christmas Eve.

U.S. markets are closed Friday for the Christmas holiday.

In corporate news, HSBC says it has bought the mutual fund arm of Indian firm L&T Finance Holdings for $425 million, in a bid to capitalize on growth in the Indian asset management market. The U.K. lender's shares rose slightly on the news.

[nivlego]

Why would they want to stop inflation when an explicit goal of the Fed is the continuous devaluation of the USD?

[Zeather]

I'm sure fed can handle inflation by printing more money!

[Danman132]

BITCOIN WILL DROP TO 9000 DOLLAR !

[djtmxmfh7110]

Yes. Raise interest rates and stop the fed from printing money

[zuez_man]

The Federal Reserve is destroying our country.

[Ghostrecon222]

Ok

[exieexigency]

<><><>< I respect your content mate.. TA is good but I find it truly baffling that all major crypto rs just look at pure TA and completely ignore the bigger narrative of why BTC is pumping and why the future outlook might not be as rosy as it seems. It's kinda irresponsible to ignore the fact that each ETF launch so far has caused a major dump at the peaks of BTC. We were already on shaky footing with historically low volume and almost pure whale pumps, narrowly avoiding a long-term bear market. This is the worst possible time in history  to invest as so many don't back up their  crypto assets. More emphasis should be put into day tradiing as it is less affected by the unpredictable nature of the market.I have made over 11 btc frm day tradn with, Alan Duyi  insights and signals in less than 1 Month.You can reach him on TELEGRAM..>>>>> Duyi34  He's very accurate and always yields a great positive return on investment......

[The_redviper]

Very bullish on crypto after watching this

[seem]

1:18:00 its quite simple. Cryptos backed by US fiat is stupid and counter intuitive of the concept crypto.  Fiat is backed by trust, fiat is continuously depreciating and losing its buying power, USD backed stablecoins = USD backed stable coins being highly unreliable.

[combustion]

Cathy Wood sez Value will be slammed in 2022  Over supply

[psychological]

*short - NO, LONG - yes, but again - no, cuz to stop inflation FED should have risen interest rates, but FED lost it & stalling time, cuz any interest rates hikes means your mortgage will double&  trulipple. Then bankruptcies. So FED will keep high Inflation and people will get poor. Other side is bankruptcy. No good options, cuz printing money costs, now US citizens will pay the price.*

[Stracci]

2008 GFC interest rates drop 12 years later interest rates drop even further globally I'd hate to see High interest rates but I don't see that coming because the powers to be don't want a system restart

[hachmann]

The answer is YES. The United States once set double digit interest rates and inflation dropped. It also caused recession.

[colony00]

Hiden Poverty (World Bank Report 2021 - December )