better understand a new covid variant begins. the fast spreading strain currently known at b-11529 was the first identified in south africa and is now in botswana, israel, and hong kong. the two biggest concerns right now, the variant may be more transmissible than delta, and current vaccines may be less effective against it. those warnings coming directly from the uk's top health official traveled to and from the south african nations and now restrict by the uk. several other countries joining that ban, but not the u.s. here's dr. fauci. >> obviously as soon as we find out more information, we'll make a decision quickly as we possibly can. you always put these things on the table but you don't want to say you're going to do it until you have scientific reasons to do it. that's the reason why we're rushing now to get the scientific data to try to make an informed decision about something like that. >> fears over the variant also rattling markets today. u.s. stocks tumbling roughly 900 points. trading just closed, an abbreviated day on wall street due to the thanksgiving holiday. we have teams covering all angles of this, but first we want to get to cnn business reporter matt egan. investors obviously concerned about this variant. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, jessica, a brutal black friday on wall street. investors spooked by the new variant. the dow finishing down more than 900 points, 2.5% for some context. that's the worst day of the biden era. you need to go back to october of 2020, long before the vaccine breakthroughs to get a worse day than this. the s&p 500 closing down more than 2% as well, and this is a global phenomenon. we saw selling begin overnight in asia where markets closed europe. european stocks really took it on the chin. now we do have to emphasize that there's so much we don't know yet. we don't know how effective vaccines will be against the new variant and we don't know how transmissible it is and we don't know how governments and society are going to react, but for now investors are selling first and asking questions later because they are worried that this could somehow slow down or somehow derail the economic recovery. a lot of concern about the travel sector. we've seen airline stocks like delta, hotel companies like marriott, airbnb, carnival cruise and other cruise operators they have all fallen sharply. investors are also betting on the stay-at-home stocks like zoom, netflix, teledoctor, betting there will be more demand there. oil prices which are very sensitive to the economic recovery, they are down 12%, down to around $68 a barrel. remember, just a few weeks ago they were at 85. a lot of drivers were hoping for cheaper gasoline prices but no one want topped get there this way. also, we need to look at how moderna is doing. the vaccine-maker closing up more than 20% as investors bet more demand for vaccines ahead. now i asked mark zandi, the chief economist over at moody's analytics what he thinks all of this moans for the economic recovery and he told me it didn't difficult to construct dark scenarios about the economic threat posed by the new variant and while it's prudent to consider these scenarios, it's just two premature to jump to them. we also do need to put some context around this market move. yes, stocks finished sharply lower today, but the s&p 500, it's still up more than 20% on the year. it has more than doubled since falling to those lows in march of 2020. so far this is just a blip. also, it's worth remembering that a lot of wall street, there's still a way for thanksgiving right now. this is the holiday-shortened trading day. sometimes when you see days like that you can see market swings get exaggerated both up and down. big picture, everyone wants to know how much is this new variant going to adjust the new normal that we're all living, and i think the answer to that question is going to dictate a lot in terms of where the market and the real economy go from here. >> yeah. there's no question about that, mai. we're also getting breaking news that the w.h.o. has named this variant omacron. we've got the new name from the w.h.o. we know that data is beginning to be collect on the variant. we heard dr. fauci saying they are rushing to learn more. help us understand what this all means and more of what we know right now. >> you know, ana, eeve been talking all day about the variant, maybe it's not such a big deal or a really big deal this. puts us more towards the side of being a big deal. for the world trade organization to give it a name, omacon and call it a variant of concern, there's only been four other variants of concern during the pandemic, one of them being delta so the fact that it's being called a variant of concern and the name, that doesn't guarantee that it's going to be big. they had an expert team look the at genetics of this variant saying, look, we either know or we can predict that there are going to be issues with this being more transmissible, and there are going to be issues that it might escape. that's sort of the scientific term, escape to some degree the vaccine. that's important. important to know that the w.h.o. thinks that this is of such a concern that they say, look, we look at the genetics and we can tell these things. we can know or can predict that this variant could cause problems. >> elizabeth, what are vaccine-makers saying about this? >> right. so we actually have reached out to pfizer and biontech. they are the folks who put out the vaccine that's the most commonly used one in the u.s., and they say that they are working on this, that they are going into their labs and they are seeing could this variant affect the potency, the efficacy of the vaccine? one of the things that i'm sure they are doing as we speak is you take blood from a vaccinated person and you use it in the lab with the variant and you see what happens, and that tells you quite a bit. so what we saw, for example, with delta, the vaccine was still effective but it wasn't as effective which is why we kept seeing all the breakthrough cases. this is something that is a relatively easy test to. do they could have answers within days. >> wow. thanks so much for helping us put this all into perspective. let's go to cnn's pete muntean. pete, you're tracking the travel ban aspect of this, the u.s. not a part of these restrictions but major u.s. airlines certainly have it on their radar. what are you learning? >> that's right, jessica. no new restrictions other in the united states just yet but we know the restrictions keep popping up all across europe. the united kingdom really led the way banning flights from six countries including south africa just yesterday. we know that the netherlands is one of the latest countries to impose the restrictions and what's so interesting is that passengers on a flight from johannesburg to amsterdam actually found out about these mid-flight and had to be cordoned off in a particular part of the airport as these restrictions were being sorted out, really creating a lot of chaos in the travel space right now. the head of the international air transport association says this is bit of a knee jerk reaction. they say governments are responding to the of the new coronavirus variant in emergency mode causing fear among the traveling public. they also call for a data-driven approach to these alternatives to border closures and maybe a quarantine instead. we'll see how this plays out. the department of transportation says the cdc and state department are monitoring this. delta airlines, united airlines and american airlines, all tell me that they are monitoring this. delta and united currently operating flights between south africain a the united states. this is the statement from delta. it says we'll continue working closely with our government partners to evaluate any changes to u.s. travel policy. big gut punch to the travel industry right now. not even three weeks ago that travel opened up for fully vaccinated foreign nationals coming into the united states. this shows how quickly things can change in this new pandemic era, jessica. >> right. the change is constant, pete. thanks so much. and let me bring in dr. abdul al zaid, an epidemiologist and former detroit health commissioner. thanks for being with us. first, i want to get your reaction. we're learning moments ago that the w.h.o. has named this variant omacron considering it a variant of earn can. elizabeth walked us through a little bit what that means. as an epidemiologist, what do you think it means? >> it really is quite concerning. how fast that it's enriching, meaning how fast it's taking up space among all of the pantheon of variants and the fact that then riching faster than we saw delta enriched says a lot about the transmissibility. there's still a lot that we don't know. we don't know howie is veer the infections with omacornin are and what the effects of the vaccines and whether or not there's good reactivity from the vaccine and we don't know how far this has gone. for a lot of folks it's deja vu all over again an as fast as you're seeing these spread, the virus is spread thing even faster so we're probably behind knowing how far it's spread across our country. that being said, still a lot more to learn and while this is concerning as the w.h.o. has indicated, i do think we have to step back and wait for the science on this. >> it sounds like pay attention but let's not overreact just yet. several countries in europe, of course, we were just talking about this, putting restriction on travelers from seven nations in southern africa. do you think that's the right move right now restricting travel, and should the u.s. be considering this? >> reporter: well, i do think as we said we want to wait for the science and i do know there's a lot more attention being paid to the question of spread right now than there had been but the fact that you're seeing multiball governments restrict travel from south africa is important, and i i do think we've got scientists and officials paying very close attention. the thing i will say is these variants tend to spread and once this kind of a virus with this transmissibility spreads, the speed with which is spreads, is really quite fast so, you know, i do think that getting at is it t early is important and there's a lot of attention being paid right now so i trust officials to make the right decision >> you wrote this week of is a harbinger of what is coming in the united states which is that cases are climbing and europe is more prepared. they are more vaccinated and are doing more testing and have more restrictions. now there's omacron in the mix. what worries you the most? >> omacon is really curveball and we don't know how that's going to land. vaccines are effective and also getting their third vaccines, the less we'll seat kind of cases that have dominated hospitals right now which are cases among unvaccinated and also cases that have dominated the mind of people who have taken all the precautions which are are the breakthrough case. advantages owns work so make sure you get them. we've yet to see the effect of reactivity and this new variant. the most important thing i would tell people is get your vaccine. what were eve seen in europe, to get back to your point, is that the number of deaths and hospitalizations are far lower than you would expect them to be given the number of cases, and, again, all that points to is between now and last year. vaccines are on board but a lot of folks aren't taking them and that's the more you're protect the by delta. and that's the issue right now in the united states and the probability that you're protected from omacron as we learn more about it. >> you're in michigan and that state is leading the nation in new cases. new cases there jumping 67% in the past two weeks. new hospitalizations up 46%. walk us through this spike. how did it get so bad so quickly there? is this more about a group of unvaccinated people in michigan? >> jessica, that really is unfortunately the case, right? we've got vaccination rates right up near 70%, very similar to the rest country. the challenge snow that you've got this group of unbothered unvaccinated people who, unfortunately, tend to live amongst one another and once you get the virus circulating among a group of unvaccinated people, all of whom are sharing space. unfortunately, we are a colder climate and the weather has gotten worse so you see people more and more likely to congregate indoor. put unvaccinated together and congregation together like many people did yesterday during thanksgiving and that's a recipe for disas term the other piece of this is we had a relatively large alpha surge for the same reasons, but because we had such a large alpha surge is took delta a while to break in and i think we're seeing the crest of a delta surge coming into michigan a little bit later. it's a combination of things and to get back to it we have too many people who are unvaccinate who had are unbothered about the fact that they are unvaccinated and doing things that could spread the virus apockets them. >> right, no question about that. doctor, thank you so much for your time. we do appreciate it. >> jessica, thank you. black friday now in full swing, and despite the supply chain problems and rights inflation, the analysts still expect this holiday season to break records. we've got details ahead. plus, a new low from the republican party. representative lauren boebert telling a crowd of supporters a bigoted story suggesting her democratic colleague ilhan omar was a suicide bomber. and gop leadership hasn't said anything about it. ♪ for skin that never holds you back. don't settle for silver. #1 for diabetic dry skin #1 for psoriasis symptom relief and #1 for eczema symptom relief. gold bond. champion your skin. with voltaren arthritis pain gel. my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel for powerful arthritis pain relief. voltaren, the joy of movement. as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? 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>> reporter: jessica, shoppers are excited to shop for the holiday season in stores, something that they couldn't do last year and, you know, everybody is just spending more on everything, but they are still shopping like crazy. in fact, the national retail federation is expecting holiday spending to break records this year. consumers are expected to shell out anywhere between 843 billion to 859 billion before the holiday shopping season is over. today begins the unofficial -- it's unofficial start to the holiday season. it's black friday. 108 million people are expected to shop. 60% of those are expected to shop in stores, and that's a divergence than what we've seen years prior, even before the pandemic. people want to go in stores and find what they want because they are not relying on what they find online. they are concerned that the gifts they find online may not arrive in time because of the supply chain disruptions that are happening globally and something retailers are facing inventory-wise which is the reason many shoppers actually began their holiday shopping spending way back in september and october. adobe analytics show a survey that consumers found 2 billion out of stock messages on a variety of categories ranging from jewelry to toys to clothing and many people wanted to go into stores and find what they want. here's some of what they told me today. >> during the pandemic we were as home with computer sales and stuff online and now we can go inside, see the people, see the things, smell. it's different. it's nice. >> i like to come out and feel the holiday, the christmas spirit. it was -- it was a little phenomenal. it was good shopping at macy's. everything was there. >> we came early so we had everything that we wanted but we just have to be patient. >> reporter: the downside to having all the demand and low supply. fewer discounts. retailers have less incentive to discount their products. >> alison kosik, thanks so much. we'll take a step back for a wider look at the economy. austan goolsbee is now an economics professor at the university chicago booth school of business and former obama adviser. great to see you. >> great to see you. >> we saw the markets tumble this morning amid the news of the newly named omacron variant, and there's a lot of up certainty right now, but what grade would you give the nation's economy currently? >> i think you've got to give it an incomplete. i mean, we're trying to come back, and there are some parts that are very strong, and i thought that that was a great report because it highlighted there are supply chain problems but a lot of those problems are coming from there has never been higher demand for physical goods in the united states where we vice president been able to spend money on services, so we're spending it on physical products, and we're setting records, so it's actually going to be an unbelievable flack friday and holiday period for the physical stores. when you go down to the mall, you're going to see big crowds of people out there physically buying stuff. retail is strong. the job market is very tight and very strong, but, you know, as i always say, the virus is the boss, and if we have omacron, we're going to go back and learn new greek letters for new variants, that's why it will affect the stock market in a very negative way and that's why the stock market reacted the way it did. >> we're hoping it won't be as bad as delta was or potentially worst. last year we saw inflation surging at its fastest pace since 1990 and gas prices across the country are nearing its highest levels in a decade. what do you make of inflation right now? do you think this is a temporary speed bump, or is this a longer term issue for americans? >> well, i have thought that it's more of a temporary speed bump, but temporary is measured in months, not weeks, and the reason i say that is precisely this thing that we're spending so much of our money on physical goods which is very unusual. we normally spend our monday on services and we haven't been able to do that and if we can get the virus down and go back to normal spending patterns, a lot of pressure on the supply chain is going to ease. it doesn't help for sure that all the countries in the world are trying to do the same thing at exactly the same time, so you've got germany the highest inflation in 30 years and china the highest inflation in 30 years and the u.s. highest in 30 years and i think that's more because of how unusual the circumstances are. >> yeah. we are just in a very unique situation right now. from groceries, gas, cars, coffee, we are seeing prices going up. do you expect americans to cut back on their spending at any point, or do you think there's pennedup demand and we've heard, too, a lot of americans have a lot of savings because they maybe didn't spend as much during the pandemic. do you expect them to start pulling back or to continue spending? >> i think they are going to continue spending. i mean, if you look, placed were up, but retail spending still surged and and for the most part it's a sign of a healthy economy that we're trying to get back to normal. we just have this hiccup that everybody is out front trying to buy physical stuff at the same time. promising things are you've seen the -- the delays in the port slink. you've seen the price of oil at least coming down a bit from -- from its peaks. hopefully that will translate into lower gasoline prices in the immediate run, and the market system is quite good once you give it the signal. here's how much demand we're going to have on a long-term basis. they will figure out how to deliver it, and you kind of saw that for black friday and coming into the holiday season. you've seen the big retailers announce that they have actually solved their supply chain problems. they are not going to have stocked out shelves any more than normal. normally you get stocked out if you wait until christmas eve like i do to get presents. >> exactly. when it's the mad dash and the hours leading up to christmas. austan goolsbee, thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> yeah. great to see you. >> you, too. new violent and ignorant rhetoric from the extreme wing of the gop. congresswoman lauren boebert now suggesting her colleague ilhan omar is a suicide bomber and openly calling her a member of the, quote, jihad squad. where are the leaders of the republican party? 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