LONDON – European stocks rose modestly on Wednesday morning, as the coronavirus pandemic and US political developments remain an important focus for investors.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3% in early trading, with banks adding 2.4% for leadership gains, while healthcare stocks resisted the upward trend and fell 0.9%.
International markets on Wednesday will be looking to the two runoff elections in Georgia that will determine control of the US Senate.
Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are facing Democratic opponents Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.
If the two Democrats win, there will be a 50-50 tie in the upper house, with elected vice president Kamala Harris as the decisive vote to give the party control of the Senate. NBC News now projects that Warnock ousted Loeffler, while the dispute between Perdue and Ossoff remains too close.
US stock futures were mixed in the early hours of Wednesday; The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose more than 100 points, while the S&P 500 futures were flat and the Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 200 points.
European investors focused on the latest developments in the coronavirus, with England entering a third national blockade on Tuesday and Germany extending its own blockade until January 31. Concerns are growing about a new strain of the virus found in South Africa; Former FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned on Tuesday that the new variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs.
On Wednesday, investors will pay attention to the European Medicines Agency’s assessment of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine.
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday as developments turned their focus to Chinese technology giants and regional energy stocks.
The shares of Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba were monitored by investors on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications. This included WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay. The request only goes into effect after Trump leaves office.
No major results are released on Wednesday; final data from the composite purchasing manager index (PMI) for the euro zone in December are due.
In terms of individual stock price movement, Nordic Entertainment rose more than 6% to lead the Stoxx 600, while Italy’s Diasorin fell 3.5%.
– CNBC’s Eustance Huang and Fred Imbert contributed reporting to this report.