European markets were in a slump Monday as impatience appeared to be growing among investors with the slow introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines and the slow pace of economic stimulus legislation in the United States.
Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.7% at midday. The CAC 40 in France was 0.4% lower, and Germany’s DAX index was down 0.6%.
Markets in Australia and Asia ended mostly lower earlier Monday. Australia’s S&P/ASX index dropped 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell just over one percent, while Shanghai’s Composite index plunged 1.4%. South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.9%, and Mumbai’s Sensex sank 2.2%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei and Taiwan’s TSEC index both closed up 0.4%.
In commodities trading, gold wa selling at $1,792.40, up 0.8%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $59.86 per barrel, up just over one percent, and Brent crude was selling at $63.38, up 0.7%.
All three U.S. indices were trending negatively in futures trading ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street.
