Europe was fairly reticent at the start of Tuesday’s trading, caught between the optimism of easing lockdown measures, and the fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases those said same measures could bring about.
As it did on Monday, the FTSE had a bit more about it than its Eurozone peers. Rising half a percent after an initial dip in the red, the UK index found itself above 5950, struggling to quite break out towards the key 6000 level.
Support came from Big Pharma, with Glaxo and AstraZeneca up 1.6% and 1% respectively, while Vodafone (LON:VOD) rose 3.7% after it kept its dividend for 2019 (but scrapped its future guidance). There was also a mixed performance in the banking sector, with gains for Barclays (LON:BARC) (1%) and RBS (LON:RBS) (0.7%) helping to counter the losses incurred by Lloyds (LON:LLOY) (-0.5%) and HSBC (-0.3%).
As for the DAX and CAC, there weren’t up to much after the bell, at most moving a handful of points either side of flat. Investors may be dwelling on the threat of another wave of covid-19 cases in Germany (and what they could mean for the gradually reopening France).
Looking ahead and, if the futures are anything to go by, Europe’s fragile showing could be tipped into the red by the US open, with the Dow Jones currently facing an 100 point fall when trading gets underway stateside. This follows a meltdown from Trump on Monday, the President storming out of a press briefing after a clash with a reporter.
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