Macro data, Omicron updates to drive stock markets this week: Analysts

Stock markets this week will be driven mostly by updates related to the new coronavirus variant that sent equities tumbling globally on Friday, macroeconomic data announcements and auto sales numbers, analysts said.
 

A World Health Organisation panel has named the new COVID strain 'Omicron' and classified it as a highly transmissible variant of concern, the same category that includes the Delta variant.
 

The potentially more contagious Omicron was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. Many countries have introduced travel bans and restrictions on