{"id":16584,"date":"2021-11-30T17:58:53","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T17:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/11\/30\/european-stocks-close-on-weak-note-on-virus-concerns\/"},"modified":"2021-11-30T17:58:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T17:58:53","slug":"european-stocks-close-on-weak-note-on-virus-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/11\/30\/european-stocks-close-on-weak-note-on-virus-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"European Stocks Close On Weak Note On Virus Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite staging a fairly strong recovery from lower levels, European stocks closed on a weak note on Tuesday as worries about the new coronavirus<\/span> variant Omicron rendered the mood quite bearish.<\/p>\n

Markets had recovered well on Monday, bouncing back from a severe setback in the previous session, as concerns about the new virus variant faded a bit. However, the markets<\/span> went into a selling mode following Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel expressing apprehensions about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the newly identified Omicron variant.<\/p>\n

Markets also reacted to U.S. Fed chief Jerome Powell’s comments that indicated the central bank could hasten a tightening of monetary policy.<\/p>\n

Powell told the Senate Committee that he thinks reducing the pace of monthly bond buys can move more quickly than the $15 billion a month schedule announced earlier this month.<\/p>\n

A recovery past mid-afternoon resulted in stocks wiping off some of their losses.<\/p>\n

Bancel said in an interview to the Financial Times that it will take a couple of weeks to determine how much the mutations have affected the efficacy of the vaccines currently available in the market.<\/p>\n

“Depending on how much it dropped, we might decide on the one hand to give a higher dose of the current vaccine around the world to protect people. Maybe people at very high risk, the immunocompromised, and the elderly should need a fourth dose,” he said. <\/p>\n

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.92%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.71%. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 declined 1.18% and 0.81%, respectively. Switzerland’s SMI shed 0.5%.<\/p>\n

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended notably lower.<\/p>\n

Austria, Poland and Russia moved higher, while Iceland and Turkey settled flat.<\/p>\n

In the UK market, London Stock Exchange declined more than 5%. Sainsbury (J), Entain, Compass Group, Pearson, IHG, Land Securities, BT Group, Kingfisher, ICP, Smith (DS), Intertek Group, British Land Co and Schrodders shed 2 to 4.5%.<\/p>\n

Anglo American Plc, BHP Group, Polymetal International, Aviva, Taylor Wimpey and Natwest Group gained 1 to 3.3%.<\/p>\n

In the French market, Danone, Carrefour, Technip, Unibail Rodamco, Air France-KLM, Safran, WorldLine, ArcelorMittal and Sanofi lost 2 to 4.2%. Pernod Ricard, Essilor and Publicis Groupe a;sp emded notably lower.<\/p>\n

Valeo gained nearly 4%. Schneider Electric climbed 3.3%, while Faurecia, Michelin, Teleperformance and Atos gained 1 to 2%.<\/p>\n

In Germany, HelloFresh declined more than 5%. Deutsche Wohnen, SAP, Deutsche Telekom, RWE, SIemens, Henkel, Bayer, Volkswagen, Covestro and MTU Aero Engines lost 1.4 to 3.2%.<\/p>\n

Sartorius surged up more than 5%. Continental gained about 1.6%.<\/p>\n

In economic news, flash estimate from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation accelerated more than expected in November on energy prices.<\/p>\n

Annual inflation advanced to 4.9% in November from 4.1% in October, and higher than the expected level of 4.5%, the data showed. Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, increased to 2.6% from 2% in October. Core inflation was forecast to advance to 2.3%.<\/p>\n

Data released by Destatis showed that Germany’s jobless rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 3.3% in October. The number of unemployed totaled 1.40 million, which was a decline of 17,700 or 1.2% from the previous month.<\/p>\n

On an unadjusted basis, unemployment fell by 305,000 or 18.9% from the last year to 1.31 million.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, data published by the Federal Labor Agency revealed Germany’s unemployment declined more than expected in November, falling to 5.3% in the month from 5.4% in October. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n