LONDON – European stocks were modestly higher on Wednesday morning as the coronavirus pandemic and US political developments remain a key focus for investors.
Pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3% at the start of trading, with banks adding 2.4% to gain benefits, while health stocks lowered their upward trend by 0.9%.
International markets on Wednesday will follow two elections in Georgia, which will determine the control of the US Senate.
Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue face provocative Democrats, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.
If both Democrats win, that would lead to a 50-50 tie in the upper house, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris voting for a break to give control of the Senate party. NBC News now predicts that Warnock has defeated Loeffler, while the race between Perdue and Ossoff remains too close to appeal.
US futures were mixed in the early hours of Wednesday; The Dow Jones Industrial Media futures rose more than 100 points, while the S&P 500 futures was flat and the Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 200 points.
European investors have focused on the latest developments in coronavirus, with England entering a third national blockade on Tuesday and Germany extending its own blockade on Tuesday until 31 January. Concerns are growing about a new strain of virus found in South Africa; Former FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Tuesday that the new variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs.
On Wednesday, investors will be watching the European Medicines Agency’s assessment of the Modern coronavirus vaccine.
Meanwhile, Asian-Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday as developments focused on Chinese technology giants and regional energy stocks.
The shares of Chinese technology giants Tencent and Alibaba were monitored by investors on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications. These included WeChat Pay and Alipay Ant Group. The order is set to take effect only after Trump leaves office.
There are no major revenue launches on Wednesday; the final data on the composite purchasing manager index (PMI) for the euro area in December are due.
In terms of individual stock price movement, Nordic Entertainment rose more than 6% to lead Stoxx 600, while Diasorin in Italy fell 3.5%.
– Eustance Huang and Fred Imbert from CNBC contributed to the reporting of this report.