NEW YORK/TOKYO -- Worries over the new coronavirus "variant of concern" have triggered a flight from risk in financial markets around the world as investors scramble to assess the implications for the global economic recovery and monetary policy.
Following sell-offs in Asian and European stocks with the detection of the omicron variant, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday fell 2.5% for its steepest decline of the year. Economically sensitive energy and financial stocks were particularly hard hit.
