BREAKING: European Markets Close Weak On Virus Fears

After recent encouraging news about vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer proving to be 94.5% and 95% efficient in preventing Covid-19 infection, results published by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca that the vaccine being developed by them indicated that it is safe and triggers a similar immune response among all adults.

The World Health Organization said that Europe made up almost half of the world's four million new coronavirus cases last week, with Austria seeing a 30% increase in new cases compared to last week.

Several countries across Europe, including the U.K., France, Spain and Italy continue to see spikes in new coronavirus cases.

On the Brexit front, European leaders during their meeting in Brussels, are expected to demand an emergency no-deal plan from the European Union if a deal is not struck by Friday.

The Times reported that EU leaders are concerned that businesses and fishing communities will be hit by economic disruption without EU contingency measures to cushion the blow of no-deal.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slid 0.75%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.8%, Germany's DAX fell 0.88% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.67%, while Switzerland ended lower by 0.69%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden all ended notably lower, while Denmark and Turkey bucked the trend and closed higher.

In the German market, Thyssenkrupp shares tumbled more than 3% after the company said it plans to cut thousands of jobs over the next three years due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lufthansa declined more than 4%. Munich RE, MTU Aero Engines, HeidelbergCement, Bayer and Allianz lost 2 to 3.4%, while Vonovia, RWE and Infineon Technologies finished higher.

In France, Technip, Unibail Rodamco, Danone, Veolia, ArcelorMittal, Carrefour and Essilor tumbled 2 to 5%, while Peugeot and Schneider Electric closed with sharp gains.

In the UK market, Johnson Matthey tumbled more than 5.5%, Melrose and B&M lost 4.7% and 4.2%, respectively, while Rolls-Royce Holdings, Hargreaves Lansdown, British Land Company, British American Tobacco and BP ended lower by 3 to 4%.

Croda International, Scottish Mortgage, Halma, Morrison Supermarkets, Relx and Pearson gained 2 to 4%.Imperial Brands, Royal Dutch Shell, HomeServe, IAG, Antofagasta and Barratt Developments also declined sharply.

Elsewhere, low-cost airline Norwegian Air plunged as much as 16% after it filed for bankruptcy protection in Ireland.

In economic news, the euro area current account surplus increased to one-year high in September, the European Central Bank reported today.

The current account surplus rose to EUR 25 billion in September from EUR 21 billion in the previous month. This was the highest since September 2019, when it was EUR 31.5 billion.

In twelve months to September, the current account surplus was EUR 222 billion or 1.9 percent of GDP, down from EUR 270 billion in the same period last year, the report said.

Another data from Eurostat showed Eurozone construction output to have dropped for the first time five months in September. The data said, construction output decreased 2.9% month-on-month in September, after a rise of 3.9% in August.

Swiss industrial production declined 5.1% year-on-year in the third quarter, the Federal Statistical Office report said. Secondary sector production declined 4.4% yearly in the third quarter and construction output fell 0.4%.

Data showed that turnover on the industrial production contracted 7.9% yearly in the third quarter and construction turnover fell by 0.6%.

U.K. manufacturers expect output to decline at a slightly faster pace in coming three months, the Industrial Trends Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Thursday.