Stay on top of the top 5 market news on Tuesday from Investing.com

By Jeffrey Smith and Anna Beatrice Bartolo

Investing.com – The United States has recorded 1 million cases COVID-19 per day – the real figure may be even greater. However, markets are still moving forward on the assumption that the rapid spread of a less virulent strain means the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

The Brazilian government plans to privatize in 2022, but the Congress itself does not take much confidence. OPEC meets with its allies to decide on production quotas for February.

Here’s what you need to know about the financial markets on Tuesday, January 4th.

Check: Investing.com’s Economic Calendar

1. Micron peak

The United States recorded more than 1 million new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, surpassing the previous record for any country. The numbers vary due to the holidays, which in some cases delayed its release but – as usual – greatly increased the possibility of broadcasting.

Ômicron, the new dominant strain of the disease, appears to cause less severe disease than previous strains: hospitalizations are still about 30% lower than last year’s peak, and in South Africa, where the new variant first appeared, the infection wave peaked without overburdening the service health in the country. However, the increase in cases in the short term leads to an increase in absenteeism, particularly in service sectors such as airlines and health care. More than 4,000 flights were canceled last weekend in the United States.

The Indian capital, New Delhi, reimposed a curfew at the weekend to curb the rise in cases.

2. Privatization schedule

Despite promising to get rid of 17 state-owned companies, Bolsonaro’s government began its last year in power without implementing any privatizations. For this year, seven companies are on the sales list, among them Eletrobras (SA :), the post office and port companies that operate the port of Santos.

The privatization of Correios and Eletrobras is viewed with disbelief, given that Congress did not include in the 2022 budget the proceeds of sales of the electric company’s operations and the bill making the auction of a state mail piece possible has been halted in the Senate.

In political news, President Jair Bolsonaro has become clinically stable after being hospitalized with an intestinal obstruction, and according to Folha de São Paulo newspaper, surgery will not be necessary. The president attributed the medical condition to a stab wound he sustained during the 2018 election campaign.

3. Operators agree to a two-week delay in the launch of 5G

Verizon (NYSE:: (SA):) and AT&T (NYSE:: (SA :)) agreed to delay the launch of 5G services by two weeks after more pressure from airline regulators and airlines, but said their services would continue. in this month.

Operators are in a hurry to start making money from the investments they’ve made in spectrum and network infrastructure, while the FAA and airlines are concerned about the risks of cockpit security systems at nearby airports.

American Airlines, an industry lobby group, has threatened to cancel thousands of flights unless its concerns are resolved.

4. US stock market

US stocks are expected to open at new records later, with confidence that Micron will move the US toward collective immunity more quickly, allowing the economic recovery to continue unhindered.

Sentiment was also boosted by some attractive titles, including Tesla’s (NASDAQ::(SA):) record fourth-quarter deliveries and Apple’s (NASDAQ::) (SA 🙂 short courtship with a market capitalization of $3 trillion.

At 8:58 am, futures are up 0.33%, while 100 and futures are up 0.37% and 0.38%, respectively. The ETF, which measures the performance of Brazilian stocks on Wall Street, is up 0.88% in pre-market. It opened 0.74% higher on B3.

In the bond market, prices were consolidating at 1.62%, after rising 13 basis points in the first few days of 2022, amid concerns that inflation is likely to remain uncomfortably high in the coming months.

Check: Pre-market real-time US stock prices

5. OPEC + to continue increasing production quotas

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies are expected to continue raising another 400,000 barrels per day in production quotas starting in February, when they meet in Vienna.

Whether the OPEC countries – especially those in Africa and Latin America – will actually be able to meet these production quotas is another matter. The union has failed to meet its production targets over the past three months, largely due to a lack of investment in the past by state-owned oil companies. This is not a limitation on Russia or Saudi Arabia, the bloc’s two largest exporters.

China has dramatically reduced the export quotas of its refineries, in a move that indicates officials are keen to maintain control of domestic prices.

Check: Quote from major global commodities

Futures rose 0.30% to $76.31 a barrel, while futures rose 0.34% to $79.25 a barrel.