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Investing.com – European stock markets are seen opening in a mixed fashion Tuesday, amid continued concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in India but also optimism as major economies around the world reopen.
At 2:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.2% but the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.6%.
Monday’s session on Wall Street saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average end 0.7% higher, the broad-based S&P 500 gain 0.3%, but the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.5% as technology stocks lagged sectors seen as beneficiaries of a pandemic recovery.
Trading in Asia has been thinned by holidays in both China and Japan.
Turning back to Europe, confidence is growing over the recovery from the pandemic as the rate of vaccination in EU member states rises quickly. On Monday, the European Commission put forward a plan to reopen the continent to holidaymakers from countries with low Covid infection rates, such as the U.K., and to anyone who has been fully vaccinated, by the start of June.
There is a similar note of optimism in the U.S., with many states continuing to relax pandemic restrictions amid the vaccine rollout. New York, one of the hardest hit of the U.S. states, recently announced the most mobility restrictions will soon be lifted, while 24-hour subway service will resume in New York City later this month.
The one fly in the ointment is Asia, and India in particular. The country’s second wave of Covid-19 infections shows no signs of slowing down, with the number of reported cases topping 20 million earlier Tuesday. The World Health Organization stated last week that one in every three new coronavirus cases globally is being reported in India.
The earnings season continued in Europe Tuesday.
Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor (OL:TEL) posted a first-quarter net loss after fully impairing the value of its Myanmar operations after a military coup in the country earlier this year, while Swiss staffing firm Adecco (SIX:ADEN) swung to a profit, helped by the gradual reopening of businesses.
Results are also expected from the likes of Infineon (OTC:IFNNY), Deutsche Post DHL Group (OTC:DPSGY) and Siemens Energy (DE:ENR1n).
Oil prices edged lower Tuesday, with the ever increasing number of Covid-19 cases in India, causing some concern. However, investors remain optimistic the continued economic recovery in regions such as Europe and the U.S. will boost overall fuel demand.
U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the session, will be studied with interest.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $64.44 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.1% to $67.50. Both contracts are over 30% higher so far this year.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,786/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower at 1.2037.
