European stocks fluctuated slightly on Wednesday as investors assessed governments’ efforts to keep their societies open amid an unprecedented wave of coronavirus infections due to the highly contagious omicron mutation.
Although governments have announced some measures to protect public health, they have not returned the severe restrictions imposed in the first waves of the pandemic leading economies into recession. Schools in France have reopened after the Christmas holidays, while other countries have announced that schools will reopen as scheduled.
On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index recorded small losses of 0.03% at 493.89 points after closing yesterday at a new all-time high.
The German DAX is moving with small gains of 0.1% to 16,164.60 points, the French CAC 40 is also strengthening 0.1% to 7,322.95 points, while the British FTSE 100 is losing 0.2% to 7,490.48 points.
In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB recorded small gains of 0.1%, while the Spanish IBEX 35 strengthened marginally 0.02%.
Investors, meanwhile, are waiting for the final PMI data for manufacturing and services in December.
The minutes of the last Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting, which will be published late in the afternoon, will also attract the attention of investors. The US Federal Reserve announced at its December meeting that it plans to accelerate the contraction of its bond-buying program, leaving open the possibility of three increases in US interest rates in 2022.
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