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LONDON – European stocks were slightly higher on Wednesday morning, with the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. political developments remaining at the center of investor concerns.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.3% at the start of trade, with banks adding 2.4% to lead gains while healthcare stocks resisted the uptrend to retreat 0.9%.
International markets will keep tabs on two polls in Georgia on Wednesday that will determine control of the US Senate.
Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue face Democratic challengers Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.
If both Democrats win, it would make a 50-50 tie in the upper house, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the deciding vote to give the party control of the Senate. NBC News is now projecting that Warnock has toppled Loeffler, while the race between Perdue and Ossoff remains too close to call.
US equity futures were mixed in the early hours of Wednesday; Dow Jones Industrial Average futures soared more than 100 points, while S&P 500 futures were flat and Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 200 points.
European investors have focused on the latest coronavirus developments, with England entering a third national lockdown on Tuesday and Germany on Tuesday extending its own lockdown until January 31. Concerns grow over new strain of virus found in South Africa; Former FDA chief Dr Scott Gottlieb on Tuesday warned that the new variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs.
Investors will seek the European Medicines Agency’s assessment of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday as developments focused on Chinese tech giants and regional energy stocks.
The shares of Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba came under scrutiny by investors on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications. This included WeChat Pay and Ant Group Alipay. The order is not expected to take effect until after Trump leaves.
There is no release of major results Wednesday; the final data of the composite purchasing managers index (PMI) of the euro zone in December is expected.
In terms of individual stock price movement, Nordic Entertainment climbed over 6% to lead the Stoxx 600, while Italy’s Diasorin fell 3.5%.
– CNBC’s Eustance Huang and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
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