NEW YORK, Dec 21 — Wall Street’s main indexes fell sharply on Monday as investors worried about the Omicron Covid-19 variant potentially undercutting the economic rebound and a critical setback to President Joe Biden’s domestic investment bill.
“I think is down over Covid fears and how those fears may extend the continuing supply-chain problems and how that will impact profits ... for companies,” Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. In a further knock to market sentiment, US Senator Joe Manchin said on Sunday he would not support Biden’s US$1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, dealing it a potentially fatal blow.The developments came as the Federal Reserve decided last week to end its pandemic-era stimulus faster, with the central bank signaling at least three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022.