US crude oil prices fell nearly 10 per cent on Friday as global concerns mount over the Nu COVID version and Joe Biden imposed new travel restrictions.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US oil benchmark, fell $68.85 a barrel on Friday after hitting historic highs in recent weeks.
It started the day with around $77 dollars.
sudden drop in oil prices Dow Jones The industrial average declined by 1,000 points, or nearly 2.5 per cent, the worst fall of the year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost 2.2 percent.
The national economy suffered a setback when the World Health Organization warned of the ‘most contagious’ version of COVID-19 yet in South Africa, named Nu or Omicron.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures serves as the benchmark for US oil prices. Per barrel cost fell nearly 10 percent on Friday
The Dow Jones slid more than 1000 points on Friday morning
There are no recorded cases of the variant in the US yet.
Most of the warnings are coming from the UK, where an unnamed senior expert at the British COVID Authority, the Health Protection Agency, described the version as ‘the worst we have yet seen’.
The US has banned travel from South Africa and seven other neighboring countries after European countries imposed travel restrictions and jolted travel and aerospace stocks.
Canada has done the same, which in the past 14 days has banned visiting any of the eight countries from crossing its borders.
Boeing reported a drop of more than 6 percent on Friday afternoon, and Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, the only US carriers with a service schedule to and from South Africa, also took a dramatic hit, CNBC informed of.
Shares of Delta fell more than 10 percent and United lost 11 percent. American Airlines also declined by about 10 percent.
United had 87 nonstop flights to South Africa scheduled for December, and Delta had set up 35.
Boeing’s stock fell more than 6 percent while American Airlines lost nearly 10. has declined
Airline industries take a hit amid busy holidays with millions of trips
“Delta will continue to work closely with our government partners to evaluate any changes to US policy,” the airline said in a statement.
Airlines suffered a setback as millions of American passengers faced long waits and delays at airports across the country for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The instability of the current economy is only further compounded by rising inflation – which stands at 6.2 percent, the highest since 1990 – that has pushed up the price of basic goods and services.
The Consumer Price Index rose 6.2 percent in October 2021 from a year earlier – the highest since 1990
The Consumer Price Index shows price increases in every category from used cars, laundry equipment, furniture to food
The variant, b.1.1.529, is believed to have originated in Botswana – from where there is no direct flight to the Americas – and is also being found in neighboring South Africa.
The Nu variant, named omicron, was first observed in Botswana before spreading to South Africa. Health experts believe this is by far the most contagious form of COVID
Hong Kong reported a case after a traveler who had recently traveled from South Africa tested positive for the variant, and then infected another person while staying in the same hotel.
The country’s health ministry said on Friday that Israel had identified “one person who returned from Malawi”, along with “two more cases from people who returned from abroad”.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said the initial data from the edition was worrying and that border restrictions should be imposed.
“Looks like vaccine piracy may be real with this variant,” he tweeted, pointing out that two patients in Hong Kong who had the variant were both double-pocketed with the Pfizer vaccine Was.
Pfizer and Moderna have both said they can update their vaccines quickly if they need to pick up a newer version.
The US had recovered from a spike in COVID-19 cases that began in late August due to the deadly delta variant.
The nation reported nearly 34,522 new cases and 394 deaths in the past day, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Nearly 600,000 new cases were reported last week and more than 7,000 new deaths.
More than 74 percent of eligible Americans, including children age 5 and older, have received at least one jab of the vaccine, with nearly 60 percent of the population fully vaccinated against the virus.
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