Investors “increasingly bullish”, COVID pandemic end seen

Markets rose on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 gaining 1 percent.

Chris Hussey, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, said that “markets appear to finally be calming down” as the “triple headwinds of rising virus cases, a more hawkish Fed, and elusive fiscal stimulus are absorbed into risk-asset prices”.

“The news flow is negative in the near-term as the Omicron wave causes economic and corporate earnings dislocations, but investors are increasingly bullish looking out beyond the next few weeks,” said Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge.

Indeed, some experts see the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus actually hastening the pandemic's end by building natural immunity among the population that could help protect against Covid’s next variant of concern.

“As all the public health folks have been saying, it’s going to rip right through the population,” said Dr David Ho, a world-renowned virologist and Columbia University professor. “Sometimes a rapid-fire could burn through very quickly but then put itself out.”