Dow drops 600 points after Powell mentions speeding up taper even amid omicron threat; European shares close lower as hawkish Powell comments, omicron fears weigh 
Stocks tumbled Tuesday, reversing Monday’s rebound on Wall Street, as investors reassessed risks associated with the new Covid variant, omicron. 
Major averages dropped to their session lows after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will discuss speeding up the bond-buying taper at its December meeting. 
Tuesday’s reversal also came after Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times that he expects existing vaccines to be less effective against the new variant. The CEO told the newspaper there could be a “material drop” in the current vaccines’ effectiveness against this variant. Bancel told CNBC on Monday that it could take months to develop and ship an omicron-specific vaccine. Moderna was down nearly 7%. 
Oil prices also declined on Tuesday with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling 5.4%, to trade at $66.16 per barrel. 
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.9% lower, with travel and leisure stocks shedding 2.8% to lead the losses as most sectors and major bourses slid into negative territory. 

European investors were also rattled by inflation concerns Tuesday. Euro zone inflation surged to a record 4.9% annually in November, above consensus forecasts, with high energy prices adding heavily to the print. 
London fintech firm Wise rose 7.7% after reporting a jump in first-half revenue and raising its full-year sales growth guidance. 
Toward the bottom of the European blue chip index, Countryside Properties fell 6.1% as investors reacted negatively to its 2022 full-year guidance. 
Source: CNBC, Investing.com