European Stock Futures Lower; Fresh Covid Worries and U.K. GDP Weigh By Investing.com

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are seen opening mixed Friday, as traders digest a positive lead from Wall Street but also fresh Covid worries and weak U.K. growth data.

At 2:15 AM ET (0715 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.1% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.3%.

Europe received a positive handover from Wall Street, and then Asia, after President Joe Biden signed his landmark $1.9 trillion Covid relief package into law and held out the prospect of a return to normal life by the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

This resulted in Wall Street posting strong gains, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index closing at record highs and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.5% following a switch back into popular mega cap tech stocks. 

The mood in Europe is more circumspect, though, despite Thursday’s dovish tone from the European Central Bank, which stated it was ready to increase bond purchases significantly to stop any unwarranted rise in debt financing costs.

While the U.K. and U.S. press ahead with their vaccination rollouts, the EU is struggling to give its population shots and infection rates are rising again in big countries such as Germany and Italy, as well as much of central Europe.

France reported over 30,000 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, for the first time in two weeks, prompting the country’s health minister, Olivier Veran, to warn that the Covid-19 situation in greater Paris was “especially worrying”. 

Across the Channel, GDP data showed the U.K. economy shrank by 2.9% in January, leaving it 9% smaller than its pre-pandemic peak.

In corporate news, EssilorLuxottica (PA:ESLX) will be in focus after the Franco-Italian eyewear company reported top- and bottom-line growth in the second half of the year as its markets recovered, adding it will pay a dividend.

Oil prices slipped Friday, but remained at elevated levels amid confidence about demand recovery in the second half of the year as the global economy – and the travel sector in particular – recovers..

U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $65.51 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.7% to $69.14, having reached a 13-month high at the start of the week.  

Elsewhere, gold futures fell 1% to $1,706.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.1944.