European stock markets are seen opening lower Monday, with continuing concerns over rising numbers of Covid-19 cases globally weighing on sentiment. Oil prices are also falling as producers agree to increase output.
At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the DAX Futures contract in Germany traded 0.4% lower, CAC 40 Futures in France dropped 0.8% and the FTSE 100 Futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.6%.
Asia has been the main battleground for the latest surge of Covid-19 cases, with many countries in the region struggling to curb the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.
That said, a number of European countries, including France, the Netherlands, Greece and Spain, announced new restrictions last week in a bid to curb a rise in infections – although the French government has backtracked on plans for sweeping new rules to expand the use of vaccination certificates after massive protests at the weekend.
England is lifting its restriction Monday, including social distancing rules and limits on social gathering, even as the number of its recorded Covid cases tops 50,000 a day and senior members of the government are forced to self-isolate.
Staying in Europe, the destruction caused by massive flooding around Germany and Belgium over the last few days could also weigh on sentiment this week.
The FTSE MIB climbed down by 0.33% to 24,792.82. In the cash markets, the DAX futures Germany was trading down 0.57% to 15,540.17. CAC 40 futures in France fell by 0.38% to 6,460.60 while the FTSE 100 futures in the U.K. were down by 0.06% to 7,008.88. ,at the time of writing.
