Thought Of The Week Virus Fears Return, Rate Hike Bets Adjusted, Powell Renominated U.S market indexes ended the week lower on news that scientists and policy makers are rushing to determine how infectious the new variant may be. The World Health Organization (WHO) says Omnicron, or B.1.1.529, was first identified in South Africa but has been found in Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium. With headlines calling it the ‘worst ever variant’ and causing panic, markets turned back to their early-pandemic playbook (buy stay-at-home stocks, sell travel-related stocks). Cruise lines fell more than 10% and CBOE Volatility Index jumped 54% to close at 28.62 on Friday. Amid the uncertainty, money markets also dialled back bets on the pace of monetary policy tightening, pushing back the timing of a first 0.25% rate increase from June to September in the futures markets. The coming days and decisions from the WHO will be closely watched to determine if...