By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening lower Tuesday, handing back some of Monday’s sharp gains after optimism over the latest positive Covid-19 vaccine news wanes.
At 2:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.4% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.3% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.4%.
Investor sentiment was given a boost Monday when Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing infection, adding to Pfizer’s promising trial data last week.
This resulted in strong equity market gains, with the FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 both closing 1.7% higher and the DAX gaining 0.5%.
However, investors have started to reassess the situation amid worries over vaccine production and delivery, and given the ever-increasing number of coronavirus cases globally, particularly in the U.S..
The World Health Organization welcomed the vaccine news but said that "many questions" remained and there was no time for complacency, particularly as only very limited amounts of any vaccine will be available in the first half of 2021 for people other than priority health workers.
A number of European countries appear to have had some success in controlling the rate of growth of new cases, largely by shutting parts of their economies down again, but the situation in the U.S., the world's largest economy, looks much more grim.
The United States recorded more than one million new Covid-19 cases last week, with new infections rising in every state except for Hawaii, according to Reuters data, while deaths increased 12% in the week ended Nov. 15.
In corporate news, Dassault Systemes (PA:DAST) will be in focus Tuesday after the French technology and software company issued a new financial outlook on Tuesday, forecasting solid growth in its cash flow over the next few years.
Oil prices edged higher Monday, helped by the news of another promising vaccine trial and expectations that the world’s top producers will agree to a further extension of supply curbs.
OPEC+, a group which includes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia, is due to hold a ministerial committee meeting later Tuesday which could recommend changes to production quotas when all the ministers meet on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
Expectations are growing that the group will suggest a postponement of the planned January increase in oil output for at least three months to support prices as the pandemic continues to hit demand.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% higher at $41.40 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.6% to $44.08.
Elsewhere, gold futures traded flat at $1,887.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1858.