By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets pushed higher Monday, boosted by renewed hopes of prompt delivery of a coronavirus vaccine..
At 4:25 AM ET (0825 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.3% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.6% and the U.K.'s FTSE index was up 0.2%.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) announced Saturday that it had resumed phase 3 trials in the U.K. of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, which it is developing with the University of Oxford.
The trials had been halted last week after a patient came down with an unspecified illness, casting doubt on the timing of the rollout of the vaccine, one of the most advanced in development.
Additionally, a day later, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) CEO Albert Bourla said the company’s own candidate, co-developed with German drug maker BioNTech, has a “good chance” of submitting key data from late-stage trials by the end of October, and once approved, could be rolled out to Americans by the end of the year.
Still, gains are limited as Germany's economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis has weakened, the country’s Economy Ministry said, but the revival is likely to continue in the rest of 2020.
Additionally, there is likely to be a degree of caution ahead of a number of important central bank meetings later this week. The U.S. Federal Reserve concludes its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. It’s expected to update its projections for the economic and interest rate outlook, which will include forecasts for 2023 for the first time.
The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England will also announce their respective policy decisions on Thursday.
In corporate news, Euronext (PA:ENX) stock fell 1.6% after submitting a non-binding offer to acquire Borsa Italiana from London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSE). This is set to spark a takeover battle for the Italian exchange as Deutsche Boerse (DE:DB1Gn), down 0.7%, submitted an offer on Friday. The deadline for bids is today.
Oil prices weakened Monday despite another fierce storm in the Gulf of Mexico caused rigs to shut down production, as demand concerns are strengthening with the coronavirus pandemic getting worse and global supplies continue to rise.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% lower at $37.12 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.7% to $39.55.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,953.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.1863.