News of a heavily mutated COVID-19 variant emerging from South Africa had hit the wires overnight. For a world trying to crawl out of the shadow of 2020, it was the ultimate "ghost of Christmas past."
By midday, the panic was tactile. Travel stocks like IAG and Amadeus were being sold off as if planes would never fly again. Oil prices were cratering, seeing their biggest one-day drop since the start of the pandemic. Viernes Negro (2021)
Elias reached for his mouse to sell, his finger hovering over the button. But then, he paused. He looked at the charts. This wasn't 2020. The world had vaccines now; it had systems. He watched the "Fear & Greed Index" peg itself into extreme terror. He didn't sell. Instead, he closed his laptop. News of a heavily mutated COVID-19 variant emerging