European Stocks Stall While U.S. Futures Jump

With early trading results from Friday, the European stock market seems to have paused. Some believe that’s because multiple countries announced tighter COVID-19 regulation and lockdown extensions. To add to that, there were concerns over the vaccine AstraZeneca proposed, causing further uncertainty.

As such, we could see Stoxx 600 fall by 0.1% in early Friday trading. Meanwhile, Germany’s DAX index remained stable, showing no motion in either direction. The French CAC showed slight upward movement, ending up 0.2% higher. Looking at the results, it seems as if Europe is going to have a stable end of the week.

In the U.S., despite a shortened Wall Street trading time window, stocks demonstrated upward movement. Dow futures went up 49 points, which translates to a 0.2% rise. Nasdaq futures and the S&P 500 also showed growth, with 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. After not working at all on Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange will close early on Friday, at 1 PM.

The U.K. recorded a more significant drop, with its FTSE 100 index going 0.8% down. That came after the country’s government released a statement saying most regions will still have stringent restrictions even after the national lockdown ends. The country-wide lockdown is due to end next week; however, the new restrictions will be stricter than before the lockdown started.

The trend of sharpening COVID-19-preventing measures seems to be spreading across Europe. Namely, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the extension of the country’s partial lockdown. With the extension, it will last until December 20. France is also currently under lockdown, although it will end slightly sooner, on December 15.

AstraZeneca shares dropped 0.8% as doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness surfaced. Oxford, the vaccine’s developer, claimed it was 90% effective when volunteer patients received a half-dose, then a full dose a month later. However, two full doses ended up being around 62% effective