By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening mixed Thursday, amid cautious trading ahead of a meeting of EU leaders as the Covid-19 situation remains troublesome.
At 3:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% higher, while CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.1%.
The main focus for European markets on Thursday will be a virtual meeting between EU leaders to discuss the third wave of Covid-19 cases hitting the region as well as the associated slow vaccine rollout. The leaders are likely to discuss possible curbs on vaccine exports, a source of tension with the neighboring U.K., whose immunization program is more advanced.
Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands have all recently tightened restrictions to combat the increasing number of infections, which are threatening to swamp the region’s hospitals.
France announced late Wednesday that it was ready to take tougher measures if the current ones fail to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Staying with Covid news, AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) announced late Wednesday that its vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, was 76% effective at preventing symptomatic illness, only a slight drop from the 79% level it initially reported, but enough to raise fresh questions about the company's internal processes.
Elsewhere, the GfK German consumer climate index came in at -6.2 in April, a small improvement from the -12.9 seen in March, but still indicative of a pessimistic consumer in the region’s largest country as lockdowns weigh.
Earnings are scheduled from the likes of Deutsche Wohnen (OTC:DTCWY), Cineworld (LON:CINE) and Smiths Group (OTC:SMGZY).
Oil prices fell Thursday, reversing Wednesday’s gains which came after a container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking one of the most important supply routes in the world. This passage remains plugged, but demand concerns have returned to the fore.
While the focus has been on lockdowns in Europe, crucial developing economies like India and Brazil have also seen rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, Additionally, U.S. crude stocks jumped by 1.9 million barrels last week, according to official data from the Energy Information Administration.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.4% lower at $60.31 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 1.2% to $63.66.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,732.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1817.