By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets weakened Thursday, as optimism surrounding the latest vaccine news yields to fears for the immediate future due to lengthy lockdowns.
At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.9% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.8%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.9%.
Earlier Thursday, mid-stage trial data from a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Oxford University showed a strong immune response in older adults. This positive news adds to Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) showing very high success rates for their late stage trials, giving hope that workable vaccines are not far away. T
However, this has had a limited impact on the markets Thursday, especially with the World Health Organization warning that vaccines won't be on time to deal with the current worldwide wave of the pandemic. The likes of the U.K., Italy and Spain this week reported their highest death tolls from the Covid-19 virus since the first outbreak in the spring.
Governments have resorted to partial shutdowns throughout the continent to combat the recent surge in coronavirus cases. While there has been some success in reducing the rate of infections, it has come at a high economic cost.
In corporate news, Thyssenkrupp (DE:TKAG) stock slumped 6.6% after the German steel giant said it would need to cut a further 5,000 jobs with its net operating loss widening in the third quarter.
Kingfisher (LON:KGF) stock dropped 3.1% despite the home improvement retailer reporting a rise in sales in the third quarter, while Norwegian Air (OL:NORR) dropped 15% after it asked an Irish court to oversee a restructuring of its massive debt as it seeks to stave off collapse.
There was some good news. Royal Mail (LON:RMG) stock rose 5.8% after a promising earnings report, while CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) climbed 2.9% after the online trading platform posted a record trading performance.
EU leaders are set to hold a video conference later Thursday to try and secure the release of hundreds of billions of euros of pandemic relief and budget funds after Hungary and Poland threatened to hold this up.
Oil prices edged lower Thursday, consolidating after climbing to their highest levels since early September during the previous session after a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. stockpiles.
Wednesday's crude oil supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a 768,000-barrel build for the week to Nov. 13, against the forecast 1.650 million. On Tuesday, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute had reported a 4.174-million-barrel crude gain.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $41.66 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.5% to $44.11, both remaining well above the $40 mark.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 1% to $1,855/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower at 1.1831.