By Dhirendra Tripathi

-- Stocks traded mostly flat on Wednesday after a surge at the beginning of the week as new restrictions in Europe to slow the spread of Omicron clashed with news the variant might be less severe than feared.

Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) said their vaccine appears to be effective against Omicron after three doses, and they said they could upgrade the vaccine by March 2022 if needed.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people to work from home starting Monday and adhere to masking and vaccine passport rules for crowded spaces. Denmark limited operating hours for bars and restaurants and closed schools for the holidays early.

Despite that, travel stocks rebounded on Wednesday.

Investors have spent the last week trying to decide whether the new variant was worrisome enough to end the recent rally that has lifted the indexes to new highs, especially now that central banks are trying to back away from the extra stimulus they used to keep economies afloat during the pandemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said governments should urgently reassess their national responses to Covid-19 and accelerate their vaccination programs to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, Reuters reported.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Broadcom earnings

Amid an ongoing chip shortage, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO)is expected to report fourth-quarter profit per share of $7.74 on revenue of $7.35 billion, according to analysts tracked by .

2. Costco earnings

The warehouse club Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST)’s first-quarter revenue is expected to be $48.94 billion and EPS is expected to be $2.59. Analysts will be listening to what the company says about the supply chain and labor trends.

3. Oracle earnings

With cloud computing a fast-growing category, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is seen clocking an EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $10.21 billion in the second quarter.