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- European stocks fell on Friday as the UK added six more countries to its 14-day COVID-19 quarantine list.
- The UK’s FTSE 100 benchmark fell 1.9% and the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 1.6% in early European trade.
- The decision, which goes into effect on Saturday, implies that travelers coming to the UK from countries including France and the Netherlands will have a window of just over 30 hours to return home to avoid restrictions.
- Eurostat data shows that Eurozone GDP shrank 12% for the second quarter, its sharpest decline since records began in 1995.
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European stocks tumbled on Friday after the UK added six more countries to its COVID-19 travel quarantine list, which waited heavily on airlines and travel stocks.
The decision means that travelers arriving in France from France, the Netherlands, Malta, Monaco, Aruba, and the Turks and Caicos Islands will be required to be 14 days self-isolating. Whoever breaks the rules is liable to a fine.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 fell 1.9%, heading for its biggest one-day fall this month, while the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 1.6%, also set for its biggest end-day decline this month.
Weighing heavily on the European travel industry, the UK’s recent restrictions “contributed to a moody opening for the continent’s markets” and “the FTSE continued to reveal the hard to justify post-recession gains,” Connor said Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx.
Airlines in the UK and European tour operators saw sharp drops as shares in EasyJet and British Airways parent IAG fell 7%, while budget airlines Ryanair and German travel company Tui fell about 5%.
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The UK’s decision to set up this new directive was introduced to “keep the infection levels down, “according to British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
As of last week, an estimated 450,000 holidaymakers were still in France, according to the Telegraph newspaper, with many thousands more holidays reserved in the coming weeks, implying that any restrictions on quarantine would represent a greater logistical challenge than in any other country. .
The mandate comes after France, a major holiday destination for UK travelers, added more than 2,524 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours – the highest one-day rise since its lockdown in May.
Spain, another popular destination, was removed from the UK’s travel corridor last month, meaning all visitors to the UK will also have to be quarantined for 14 days upon their return.
Separately, oil prices fell on Friday with benchmark Brent crude down 0.4% at $ 44 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 0.6% at $ 42.
On Thursday, the Internal Energy Agency downgraded its global oil demand forecast for both 2020 and 2021 over expectations of aviation sector weakness as the coronavirus pandemic continues with air travel.
Separate data from the European Bureau of Statistics showed second-quarter GDP growth in the eurozone plunged by the sharpest level since records began in 1995, falling by 12%, and by 11.7% quarter-on-quarter quarter.
Eurozone unemployment rose to -2.8%, against expectations for -1.7%.
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Here is the 11.45 am London Stock Market (6.45 pm ET):
- Asian indices finished mixed with China’s Shanghai Composite up 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.2%, and Japanese Nikkei up 0.2%.
- European stocks fell, with German DAX down 1.2%, Britain’s FTSE 100 down 1.9%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 down 1.6%.
- U.S. stocks are set to open lower. Futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the US Tech 100 fell 0.5%.
- Oil prices fell, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.6% at $ 42, and Brent crude down 0.4% at $ 44.
- The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to 0.69%.
- Gold fell 0.8% to $ 1,954 per ounce.
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