By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets sold off Wednesday, following overnight losses on Wall Street amid concerns that the reopening of economies could result in a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
At 3:55 AM ET (0755 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 1.8% lower, France's CAC 40 fell 1.9%, while the U.K.'s FTSE index was down 1.1%.
Overnight the major indices on Wall Street all fell around 2% after leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned lawmakers that a premature lifting of lockdowns could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus.
U.K. transport minister Grant Shapps Wednesday acknowledged the difficulties surrounding reopening an economy, saying there was no perfect way to do so, but the latest growth figures will certainly focus the U.K. government’s mind: Britain's economy shrank by a record 5.8% in March from February, the largest quarter-on-quarter fall since the end of 2008. The second quarter is certain to be considerably worse.
In corporate news, AP Moeller - Maersk (CSE:MAERSKb) stock slumped 4.5% after the world’s largest container line said the fallout from Covid-19 will drive volumes down by as much as 25% this quarter. In banking, Germany's Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Dutch-based ABN Amro both slumped after they reported big increases in bad loan provisions, while Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) decided it couldn't keep its planned job cuts on hold any longer. Deutsche Bank stock fell 4%, while ABN stock fell 6.1%.
Luxury car maker Aston Martin (LON:AML) fell over 7% after posting a hefty first-quarter pretax loss as sales dropped by nearly a third.
On a more positive note, Sage Group (LON:SGE) gained 0.6% after the company, which supplies software to small and medium sized businesses, reported a 5.7% increase in organic revenue growth and a 3% rise in organic operating profit.
Oil futures sold off Wednesday, following the stock markets lower amid concerns about the potential hit to already tepid demand of a second wave of the coronavirus.
Adding to the negative tone was the American Petroleum Institute saying late Tuesday that its measure of stockpiles showed a build of 7.6 million barrels, well above expectations of a rise of 5 million barrels.
The official U.S. weekly oil inventories data are due later Wednesday, with crude stockpiles expected to continue their downward trend, albeit slightly.
At 3:55 AM ET, U.S. crude June futures traded 1.8% lower at $25.32 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent contract fell 2.7% to $29.18.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,704.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.0839, down 0.1%.