Dow Jones resumes losses in early trading

Most of the US stock indices fell in early trading today on Tuesday, due to lingering concerns over about the new coronavirus variant impact on the economic recovery.

South Africa detected the omicron variant last week, and countries around the world have rushed to tighten border closures, but US President Joe Biden said that there is no need to tighten lockdown restrictions.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a pre-prepared testimony before the US Congress that Omicron may pose a threat to the recovery of employment and US economic growth and cause inflationary pressures that could persist longer.

Moderna CEO Stephan Bancel said that existing vaccines could be be less effective against the new variant Omicron as than with Delta.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 0.7% or 240 points to 34,896 as of 15:15 GMT, and S&P 500 fell 0.3% or 15 points to 4,640, while Nasdaq rose 0.2% or 23 points to 15,806.