Yesterday’s European session turned out to be a rather subdued affair, bringing the curtain down on a very positive month and quarter, with the main focus on the prospects for an economic reopening and while that prospect is much closer in the US and the UK, there is rising concern after French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to announce a four-week lockdown nationwide from Saturday, in an attempt to bring infections, hospitalisations and deaths in France under control.
The main concern is he may well have left it too late after 59,038 new infections were reported yesterday, and with so much vaccine scepticism across the country, particularly over the Astra/Oxford jab, as well as the rest of Europe, it’s hard to see and end point to the current crisis in Europe.
While markets in Europe ended the month in a fairly quiet fashion US markets had a much more positive end to proceedings, with the S&P500 edging to within touching distance of the 4,000 level, and a new record high, as a Nasdaq and Russell inspired surge saw US stocks finish…
