On Monday, US stock futures regain some ground after being battered by the news regarding the new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, on Friday.
Signs of stabilization were spotted as S&P 500 futures added 0.8% and Nasdaq futures 0.9%. On Friday, both indices recorded the steepest plunge in months as the travel and airline stocks hit particularly hard.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped by 0.1% but was off early lows. Japan's Nikkei also pared early losses to be down by 0.9%.
US Treasury futures down 11 ticks. Two-year Treasury yields edged up to 0.55%, after falling 14 basis points on Friday in the biggest drop since March 2020.
The US Dollar has been undermined by the shift in expectations in the benefit of the safe haven Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc.
Early on Monday, the Dollar had steadied at 113.81/yen after posting a slump of 1.7% on Friday. The dollar index held at 96.190, after Friday's 0.7% drop. The Euro paused at USD1.1294 , following its rally from USD1.1203 late last week.
In commodity markets, oil prices bounced after on Friday it suffered the largest one-day drop since April 2020. Brent rebounded by 3.9% to USD75.57/barrel, while US crude rose by 4.5% to USD71.24.
The market is now monitoring if the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) would suspend its scheduled increase for January at its meeting on 2 December.
Meanwhile, gold was stuck at USD1,791/ounce as it has so far found little in the way of safe haven demand.
Moving forward, the EU is quite optimistic in facing the Omicron scare. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that the euro zone was better equipped to face the economic impact.
