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Investing.com – European stock markets traded in a mixed fashion Wednesday, with investors focusing on the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
At 3:55 AM ET (0855 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.5% lower, the U.K.’s FTSE index dropped 0.2%, while the CAC 40 in France rose 0.1%.
Many of the European Union countries have been slow to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to their populations, dulling the generally positive tone exiting in equity markets over the last few months.
Not helping has been an ongoing spat between pharma giant AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) and EU health officials over delays in vaccine deliveries within the bloc. Astra CEO Pascal Soriot said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that the delays were due to the EU only signing its contract with the company three months after the U.K. signed a similar one.
“Much now depends on the outcome of this race between a mutating virus and vaccines to end the pandemic, and on the ability of policies to provide effective support until that happens,” the International Monetary Fund’s Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said in a blog post Tuesday.
The IMF raised its growth estimate for the global economy to 5.5% in 2021, from +5.2% in its last forecast in October.
Despite this upgrade, German consumer confidence is set to drop sharply, after the latest GfK German consumer climate index fell to -15.6 from -7.5 last month. French confidence data also retreated, with the January figure falling to 92 from 95 in December.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve, as the central bank is due to announce results of its two-day policy meeting later Wednesday.
In corporate news, UniCredit (MI:CRDI) stock rose 1.1% after Bloomberg reported that the Italian bank’s board will appoint ex-UBS investment bank head Andrea Orcel as the new CEO Wednesday, replacing Jean-Pierre Mustier.
LVMH (PA:LVMH) stock rose 1.6% as strong sales at fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, particularly in China, helped to cushion the impact on the French luxury group from the coronavirus pandemic.
SAP (DE:SAPG) stock rose 0.7% after the German software company provided a strategy update, while also benefiting from Microsoft’s strong results, released late on Tuesday.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) stock slid 3.6% after the precious metal miner lowered its forecast for gold output for the current year.
Oil prices climbed Wednesday, boosted by industry data showing U.S. crude stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute, released Tuesday, showed a draw of 5.272 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 22, compared with a forecast for a 603,000-barrel build. The U.S. Energy Information Administration data are due later Wednesday.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.7% higher at $52.95 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.8% to $56.09.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,845.70/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.2147.
