Health-care companies fell, as traders retreated from high-risk areas such as biotech ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy decision.
The first large real-world study of how vaccines hold up against Omicron found that two shots of Pfizer and BioNTech SE's Covid-19 vaccine lowered the risk of hospital admission by 70% for patients infected with the highly mutated variant.
Separately, lab tests gave encouraging signs that Pfizer's experimental Covid-19 pill for the newly infected could work against Omicron, the company said. Shares of Pfizer rose slightly.
Managed-care insurer Centene said its long-serving chief executive officer will retire next year and it will name five new board members amid pressure from activist hedge fund Politan Capital Management.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-14-21 1708ET
