Negative start to the week for the European markets – Stoxx 600 fourth day of losses

European stocks fell on Monday with the reluctance to return in anticipation of central bank decisions on both sides of the Atlantic and amid mounting pressure on the travel industry as concerns about the micron mutation escalate again.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index, although it started trading on an upward territory, eventually lost its gains to finally close at -0.4% at 473.53 points. The index completed four consecutive negative sessions.

The travel industry fell 2.6% as investors weighed the risk of tougher travel restrictions due to the omicron mutation. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first death from the new micron mutation, which is considered more contagious than the delta, with the Prime Minister even warning of a tidal wave of new infections in the near future.

The German DAX index closed with marginal losses of 0.01% at 15,621.72 points, the French CAC 40 fell 0.7% to 6,942.91 points, while the British FTSE 100 lost 0.8% and closed at 7,231, 44 units.

In the region, the Italian FTSE MIB fell 0.6%, while the Spanish IBEX 35 fell 0.45%.

Cautiousness is evident at the start of the week as investors await decisions by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, followed by the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

The US Fed is expected to continue reducing its quantitative easing program to pave the way for higher US interest rates next year to tackle inflation. For its part, the ECB is adjusting its stance to continue to provide support to the economy next year through the Regular Bond Purchase Program (APP) following the 2022 end of the emergency pandemic program it launched to deal with the pandemic (PEPP).