European stocks slide as COVID worries swamp investors

The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -2.52% was down 2.3% to 462, after finishing last week with a 0.4% drop. The German DAX DAX, -2.98% was down 2.8%, the French CAC PX1, -2.49% was down 2.3% and the FTSE 100 index UKX, -2.17% was off 2.2%. The euro EURUSD, +0.20% rose 0.1% and the British pound GBPUSD, -0.39% fell 0.2%.

The Netherlands entered a nationwide lockdown on Sunday evening, with schools, universities, and all nonessential stores, bars and restaurants closed until Jan. 14, as France and Austria tightened up travel restrictions, and Ireland imposed an 8 p.m. curfew for pubs, bars and indoor and outdoor entertainment events. Governments in Spain and Italy will also be meeting this week to consider new measures.

The U.K. reported 82,886 more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, and officials have said new restrictions before Christmas couldn’t be ruled out. The British Medical Association warning that almost 50,000 doctors, nurses and other National Health Service staff in England could be off sick by Christmas Day barring further measures.

Europe also tracked losses for U.S. stock-index futures ES00, -1.59% NQ00, -1.59% YM00, -1.54%, which fell on COVID concerns and worries that President Joe Biden’s key $2 trillion spending bill was in trouble after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), said on Sunday that he couldn’t support it. That development prompted Goldman Sachs to cut its 2022 U.S. growth forecasts.

Almost every stock sector was in the red, with apparel, banks, technology and pharmaceutical sectors leading the declines.

Among the heavyweights, chip group ASML Holding fell 2%, German business software group SAP SAP, +0.71% SAP, -3.53% fell 3%, while luxury-goods group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s MC, -2.25% stock dropped 2.6%. AstraZeneca shares AZN, -1.87% AZN, -1.59% fell 1.8%.

Also weighing on indexes, were losses for energy names, as U.S. CL00, -4.45% and global benchmark Brent crude prices BRN00, -3.90% fell more than 3% each. Shares of TotalEnergies TTE, -2.92% TTE, -1.67%, BP BP, -1.61% BP, -3.72% and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A, -1.75% RDSA, -2.79% shares fell around 3% each.

Bucking the downward direction, shares of BNP Paribas BNP, -0.93% rose 0.7%, after the French bank said it would sell its U.S. unit, Bank of the West, to Bank of Montreal for $16.3 billion in cash. As a result, BNP said it would see a one-off capital gain, net of taxes, of about 2.9 billion euros ($3.26 billion), and boost its common equity Tier 1 ratio by 170 basis points.