The Dow Jones lost 0.89% to 35,650.95 points, the high-tech Nasdaq index, 1.39% to 15,413.28 points, and the extended S&P 500 index, 0.91% to 4,668.97 points.

"There is once again some concern about the Omicron variant, as more and more countries report cases," said Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategy specialist at the investment firm. Edward Jones.

A first case of Omicron variant contamination was announced in China on Monday by authorities in the northeastern city of Tianjin, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reported the first death in the United Kingdom linked to this new mutation of the coronavirus.

"The S&P was at an all time high so there is little to worry about after the surge last week," said Angelo Kourkafas.

"It looks like the prospect of growth (of the world economy) has diminished" because of the possible consequences of the resurgence of the pandemic, described Jack Ablin, head of investment at the management company Cresset Capital. .

This change of mood on Wall Street after a good week has also been transposed to the bond market.

The benchmark rate for ten-year US government bonds has eased significantly, to 1.41%, against 1.48% on Friday.

The absence of macroeconomic indicators and corporate results has helped focus investors' attention on the latest developments in the pandemic.

Overall, there is "a little nervousness", according to Angelo Kourkafas, in part linked to the expectation of serial central bank meetings later in the week, including the Federal Reserve (Fed), Tuesday and Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, stocks that had benefited greatly from the removal of the Omicron threat last week have been hit hard.

Now accustomed to roller coasters, cruise passengers have again pitched, like Carnival (-4.88%) or Norwegian (-4.41%), as have airlines, such as American Airlines (-4 , 94%) and United Airlines (-5.24%).

Beyond that, many growth stocks, such as the graphics card specialist Nvidia (-6.75%), the semiconductor manufacturer AMD (-3.43%) or Uber (-2.56%) looked gray. .

Automakers also suffered on Monday, with General Motors yielding 6.45 and Ford 4.76%.

Conversely Peloton rebounded (+ 7.35 %% to 41.34 dollars) after its bad session on Friday.

Caught in a media storm after the death of a key character in the series "Sex and the City" on a bike of the brand, the group counterattacked in two stages.

After the cardiologist, a member of its scientific committee, who explained with humor on Friday that the death was undoubtedly more related to the lifestyle of Mr. Big, the character in question, than to the use of a bicycle. 'apartment, Peloton posted a spot on Sunday with the resurrected actor Chris Noth (who plays Mr Big).

Monday's session was also a story of thresholds, Apple (-2.07%) missing the threshold of 3 trillion dollars (2.883 billion at closing), while Tesla (-4.98%) fell below the threshold. 1,000 billion (970).

Pfizer took advantage (+ 4.59% to 55.20 dollars) from the announcement of the acquisition, for 6.7 billion dollars, of the laboratory Arena Pharmaceuticals, which is developing several treatments against inflammatory autoimmune diseases.

Harley-Davidson took off (+ 4.70% to 38.54 dollars) after indicating that its LiveWire electric motorcycle business was going to be floated on the stock market via a vehicle already listed, this new entity having a value of 1.8 billion dollars. dollars.

The legendary manufacturer will retain around 74% of the shares in the capital of LiveWire.

© 2021 AFP