{"id":11982,"date":"2021-07-19T16:55:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T16:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/07\/19\/european-stocks-tumble-as-virus-concerns-trigger-sell-off\/"},"modified":"2021-07-19T16:55:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T16:55:51","slug":"european-stocks-tumble-as-virus-concerns-trigger-sell-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/07\/19\/european-stocks-tumble-as-virus-concerns-trigger-sell-off\/","title":{"rendered":"European Stocks Tumble As Virus Concerns Trigger Sell-off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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European stocks tumbled on Monday, extending recent losses, weighed down by mounting concerns about the rapidly surging delta variant of the coronavirus<\/span> in several countries across Europe and Asia. <\/p>\n

The virus has spread rapidly in the U.S. as well, and several countries in Europe have imposed fresh restrictions to curb the spread of the variant.<\/p>\n

The British government has lifted most pandemic related restrictions effective today, but traders stayed wary of picking up stocks even at lower levels.<\/p>\n

The pan European Stoxx declined 2.3%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended 2.34% down, Germany’s DAX closed lower by 2.62% and France’s CAC 40 drifted down 2.54%, while Switzerland’s SMI lost 1.37%.<\/p>\n

Among other markets<\/span> in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Turkey all ended notably lower, with most of the benchmarks falling 2 to 3.5%.<\/p>\n

Travel and leisure stocks bore the brunt of the selling pressure. Energy stocks fell as crude oil prices extended losses amid oversupply concerns and weak outlook for energy demand.<\/p>\n

In the UK market, ITV, Rolls-Royce Holdings, IAG, St. James Palace, Lloyds Banking Group, BP, BT Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Pershing Square Holdings, Glencore, Associate British Foods, Melrose and Prudential lost 4 to 7%.<\/p>\n

Natwest Group, Anglo American Plc, Aviva, Barclays Group, CRH, Standard Chartered, British American Tobacco and BHP Group also declined sharply.<\/p>\n

Just four stocks out of the FTSE 100 index closed on the positive side. Just Eat Takeaway rallied 3.25% and Pearson gained 1.3%, while B&M European Value Retail and Hikma closed modestly higher.<\/p>\n

In the French market, most of the CAC 40 components ended sharply lower. Unibail Rodamco closed more than 7% down, Airbus shed about 6%, Technip, Safran, Publicis Groupe, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Renault, Vinci, Atos, ArcelorMittal, Accor and Air France-KLM lost 3.7 to 5.2%. <\/p>\n

Credit Agricole, Saint Gobain, Carrefour, STMicroElectronics and Sodexo also declined sharply.<\/p>\n

In Germany, MTU Aero Engines, Munich RE, Deutsche Telekom, Thyssenkrupp, BASF, Covestro, RWE, Lufthansa, BMW, Daimler, Bayer Allianz, Deutsche Bank, HeidelbergCement and Infineon Technologies shed 3 to 6%.<\/p>\n

In economic news, UK house prices increased to a new record high for the fourth straight month in July largely driven by the shortfall of property coming for sale, data from property website Rightmove said on Monday.<\/p>\n

House prices increased 5.7% on a yearly basis in July, but slower than the 7.5% increase logged in June.<\/p>\n

Month-on-month, house prices gained 0.7%, following a 0.8% rise in June. The latest monthly growth was the largest at this time of year since July 2007.<\/p>\n

Eurozone construction output grew in May after falling in April, led by building construction, preliminary data from Eurostat showed Monday.<\/p>\n

Construction output rose 0.9% from the previous month, when it fell 0.4%. In March, output rose 4%.<\/p>\n

Building construction rose 1.2% on a monthly basis, while civil engineering continued to fall, down 0.3%.<\/p>\n

In the EU, the construction output increased 0.7% monthly after a 0.1% fall in the previous month.<\/p>\n

In May, building activity rose 0.9%, while civil engineering work shrunk 0.1%.<\/p>\n

On a year-on-year basis, the euro area construction output grew 13.6% after a 45.2% surge in the previous month.<\/p>\n

In the EU, the construction output grew 11.6% yearly, after a 35.4% rise in April.<\/p>\n

Bank of England Policymaker Jonathan Haskel said the tightening of monetary policy is not the right choice for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

“In the immediate term, the risk of a pre-emptive monetary tightening curtailing the recovery continues to outweigh the risk of a temporary period of above-target inflation,” he said in an online webinar on Monday.<\/p>\n

“For the foreseeable future, in my view, tight policy isn’t the right policy,” said Haskel.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the crude oil front, the OPEC cartel and partners such as Russia agreed on Sunday to boost supply from August, ending a two-week spat between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

The cartel will boost output by 400,000 barrels a day each month from August, continuing until all of its halted output has been revived.<\/p>\n

The agreement also reveals baseline increases for four of OPEC’s member states and one non-OPEC state beginning in May of 2022. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n