Name: London stocks fall on fears over new coronavirus strain
Brand: reuters.com
SKU: reuters-com-3068
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

London stocks fall on fears over new coronavirus strain

preview

By (Reuters) -UK blue-chip stocks fell to a near three-week low on Monday as a fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus prompted tougher restrictions, while a fresh ban on travellers from Britain hammered airline and oil stocks.The FTSE 100 touched its lowest since Dec. 2 in early trading, but clawed back some of its losses to trade down 1.2% as the pound’s 2% drop limited a fall in the exporter-heavy index. [GBP/]BP and Royal Dutch Shell were the biggest drags on the index as oil prices fell more than 3% on the latest round of European restrictions. [O/R]Shell also took a hit from its move to write down the value of its oil and gas assets by $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion following a string of impairments this year.British Airways-owner IAG and easyJet fell about 8%, while InterContinental Hotels Group dropped 4% after its European neighbours and other countries cut transport ties due to fears about the new coronavirus strain.“We are in the middle of a perfect storm of both COVID-19 and Brexit,” said Stefan Koopman, senior market economist at Rabobank. “It is catastrophic as the entire island is cutoff from the continent and that has repercussions on the market.”The FTSE 100 has lost 14.3% so far this year and is on course for the worst year since the global financial crisis in 2008-09 as pandemic-driven lockdowns battered the economy and led to mass layoffs.The domestically focused FTSE 250, considered a barometer for Brexit sentiment, shed 1.9% with no Brexit trade deal in sight and just days to go until a transition period expires at the end of the year.Pub groups JD Wetherspoon and Mitchells &amp; Butlers were also a drag on the index due to worries about the latest restrictions.Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Anil D’SilvaOur Standards:

By (Reuters) -UK blue-chip stocks fell to a near three-week low on Monday as a fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus prompted tougher restrictions, while a fresh ban on travellers from Britain hammered airline and oil stocks.The FTSE 100 touched its lowest since Dec. 2 in early trading, but clawed back some of its losses to trade down 1.2% as the pound’s 2% drop limited a fall in the exporter-heavy index. [GBP/]BP and Royal Dutch Shell were the biggest drags on the index as oil prices fell more than 3% on the latest round of European restrictions. [O/R]Shell also took a hit from its...

public

Shivani Kumaresan

Medha Singh

Top and breaking news, pictures and videos from Reuters. For more breaking business news, follow @ReutersBiz.

reuters.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

London stocks fall on fears over new coronavirus strain

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS