European stock markets continue to plummet on Friday amid new restrictions imposed by European governments to control the spread of the coronavirus, and reports of a new variant of the virus with multiple mutations spark fears about the effectiveness of vaccines and of existing treatments.
The new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in South Africa is causing concern due to the large number of mutations and its rapid spread. THE Britain announced today that the new strain is considered by scientists to be the most important that has been identified so far and therefore it needs to be ascertained whether or not it makes vaccines ineffective.
BioNTech SE has announced that it has begun testing the new coronavirus mutation and is awaiting the first data from its laboratory tests on how it responds to its vaccine over the next two weeks. The evidence will shed light on whether the new mutation, B.1.1.529, could escape the protection offered by the vaccine.
The mutation has already reached Europe, with first confirmed case recorded in Belgium.
On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index plunged 2.7% to 468.78 points, having been found to lose up to 3.6% earlier. The travel and leisure industry plunged 6% after diving 7% earlier, as several countries announced a ban on flights from South Africa and other countries in the region. The European Union is preparing for a similar move.
Shares in the oil and gas sector are losing 5.2%, while the extractive crude is falling 3.5% as oil and commodity prices record large losses amid concerns of a further slowdown in the global economy due to the new downturn.
The German DAX fell 2.95% to 15,447.32 points, the French CAC-40 lost 3.7% to 6,812.85 points, while the British FTSE 100 fell 2.95% to 7,095.31 points.
In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB loses 3.2%, while the Spanish IBEX-35 drops 4%.
At the end of the day, the data announced today by the European Central Bank showed that the annual growth rate of the M3 money supply index strengthened in October to 7.7% from 7.5% in September.
The annual growth rate of loans to households remained unchanged at 4.1% in October, while the annual growth rate of loans to non-financial corporations increased to 2.5% in October from 2.1% in September, as shown. ECB data.
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