Economists Assess Omicron Risk for Investors: ‘A Global Issue in the Coming Weeks’

People receive boxes of KN95 face masks during a back-to-school event offering school supplies, COVID-19 vaccinations, face masks, and other resources for children and their families at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA in Los Angeles, Calif., on Aug. 7, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust lost ground once again Tuesday as investors try to get a clear picture of just how much of a negative economic impact the omicron variant of COVID-19 will have on the global economy.

Near-Term Weakness

Omicron was a major topic at the BNP Paribas 2022 Global Outlook virtual press event on Tuesday. BNP Chief Global Economist Luigi Speranza said Tuesday that the emergence of a new COVID variant does not significantly change the firm’s bullish medium-term outlook for the global economy.

“Our bias overall is to think recent developments are a net negative for growth but more ambiguous for inflation,” Speranza said.