European stocks fell on Monday after European Union leaders meeting over the weekend failed to agree on a multi-million dollar recovery fund for the region to help it recover from the coronavirus crisis.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.6% lower in initial trade, with travel and leisure stocks falling 2.3% to lead losses as all sectors and major exchanges fell into negative territory.
European markets will take over the latest news from the region this weekend with EU leaders who have so far been unable to agree on the size and composition of a proposed € 750 billion recovery fund ($ 857 billion). Talks that started in Brussels on Friday about the fund, and the next long-term EU budget, continued over the weekend and are now expected to resume on Monday.
European Council President Charles Michel reportedly reminded EU leaders at the summit that more than 600,000 people have now died of the coronavirus worldwide.
The pandemic remains a focus for the markets as coronavirus cases increase at an alarming rate in some parts of the world. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed that more than 70,000 cases were confirmed in the United States on Saturday, marking two consecutive days of at least 70,000 new confirmed infections.
Shares in Asia Pacific fell mainly on Monday when China maintained its benchmark interest rate for the third consecutive month. Meanwhile, US stock futures declined in early Monday trading, matching earlier gains as investors tried to take advantage of last week’s strong performance.
Profits come from Philips and Julius Baer on Monday; There are no important data posts.
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