By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets weakened Friday, with investors still awaiting the result of the U.S. presidential election as coronavirus cases continue to mount, threatening the region’s nascent recovery.
At 3:50 AM ET (0850 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.5% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.4%, while the U.K.'s FTSE index dropped 0.2%.
The result of the U.S. presidential election remains uncertain Friday, but Democrat Joe Biden has strengthened his chances of winning the White House, steadily chipping away at incumbent President Donald Trump’s early lead in a pair of crucial swing states.
Two of Trump's legal challenges to stop vote-counting were thrown out by state courts in Michigan and Georgia on Thursday, and his remaining actions have failed to have any impact so far. In his first public appearance since election night, Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and vowed to continue the legal actions.
Meanwhile the coronavirus pandemic continues unchecked throughout most of Europe. Both Spain and Italy recorded their highest daily death tolls in the second wave on Thursday, while Italian regions entered partial lockdowns, joining the likes of France, the U.K. and Germany in shutting down vast swathes of their economies.
This raises the distinct possibility that the continent could suffer from a double dip recession. Earlier Friday, German industrial output rose by less than expected in September as the coronavirus crisis held back activity.
The other major economic data release Friday comes from across the Atlantic, with October U.S. nonfarm payrolls data expected to show a further slowdown in the labor market recovery.
In corporate news, Allianz (DE:ALVG) stock gained 2.1% after the insurer giant posted a rise in net profit despite revenue falling in the third quarter. Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont (SIX:CFR) stock soared 10% after seeing some positive trends in its fiscal second quarter, thanks largely to a rebound in sales in China.
On the flip side, Aveva (LON:AVV) stock fell 2% after the software provider said it intends to raise 2.84 billion pounds ($3.73 billion) through a rights issue to partly fund the acquisition of SoftBank-backed peer OSIsoft.
Oil prices fell Friday, under pressure from signs of overproduction within OPEC and more aggressive discounting by Saudi Arabia in Asia.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.2% lower at $38.34 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 1.3% to $40.42. These contracts are still heading for their first weekly gain in four.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,949.30/oz, but remained on course for its biggest weekly gain since July, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.1848.