MILAN/FRANKFURT: European shares retreated from eight-month highs on Thursday as surging coronavirus infections raised doubts about a quicker economic rebound and overshadowed several upbeat quarterly earnings reports.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.8%, reversing after having gained 12.5% so far this month.
The banking index led sectoral declines following its best three-day winning streak since the global financial crisis in 2009, while travel stocks fell 0.6% after surging earlier in the week on hopes for an effective Covid-19 vaccine.
The benchmark STOXX 600 index has gained more than 40% since a coronavirus-driven crash in March, but it has lagged the US benchmark S&P 500 on fears of a longer road back to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity. In company news, Siemens shed 3.3% after the German engineering group gave a cautious outlook on its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it expects government and company investments next year to lag the global rebound in economic growth. Zurich Insurance Group rose 0.7% as it said its new life insurance business picked up in the third quarter, while Italy’s top insurer Generali lost 0.5% after saying it would not pay the second tranche of the dividend on 2019 results this year. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7% after posting eight straight days of gains.—Reuters
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