European Shares Slide On Covid-19 Worries

European stocks fell from over 10-month highs on Monday as worries over rising coronavirus cases overshadowed stimulus hopes.

The downside, however, remained limited after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden pledged a massive stimulus package for the economy.

Biden said that “trillions” in U.S. fiscal stimulus measures would be unveiled this week, which includes $2,000 direct payments to Americans and aid for small businesses.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.4 percent to 409.51 after rising 0.7 percent on Friday. The German DAX fell 0.7 percent, France’s CAC 40 index gave up 0.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

Relief Therapeutics Holding AG surged more than 6 percent. The Swiss company and NeuroRx, Inc. announced that they have signed a Clinical Trial Participation Agreement with Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative for the inclusion of ZYESAMI (RLF-100: aviptadil) in the I-SPY COVID-19 Clinical Trial.

Euronext shares were moving lower. The stock exchange operator said it had resolved a technical glitch in index derivatives trading.

Sanofi gained half a percent. The pharmaceutical company has agreed to acquire Kymab for an upfront payment of approximately $1.1 billion and up to $350 million upon achievement of certain milestones.

Petroleum refining company Total declined 1.4 percent after announcing the acquisition of Fonroche Biogaz, a company that designs, builds and operates anaerobic digestion units in France.

TeamViewer AG was down 1.2 percent. The software company said, according to preliminary figures, fourth quarter total billings grew 32 percent at constant currencies. The total subscriber base grew to 584 thousand at year-end from 464 thousand at prior year-end.

Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell were down about half a percent while miner Anglo American lost about 1 percent and Glencore gave up 1.5 percent.

Britain’s biggest sportswear retailer JD Sports surged 4.4 percent after it forecast full-year profit to be “significantly ahead” of market expectations.

Capita edged up slightly. The business process outsourcing company has signed a contract to provide training services to the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines.

Medical technology company Smith+Nephew tumbled 3 percent. The company said that it expects to report a 7 percent decline in fourth-quarter underlying revenue.

Airline easyJet gave up 1.5 percent after it signed a new five-year term loan facility of $1.87 billion underwritten by a syndicate of banks and supported by a partial guarantee from UK Export Finance under their Export Development Guarantee scheme.

Source: Read Full Article