Markets

Bank and travel stocks lead sharp European market declines

Gloomy start to week with persistent coronavirus worries

Asian markets were also under pressure as the week began.

Mon Sep 21 2020 - 10:47

Markets kicked off a new week on a dour note, with travel and banking stocks leading declines.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell 2.6 per cent, leaving it on track for the steepest decline since ructions in June. Germany’s Dax and the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 3 per cent in early trading, with the European banks index extending last week’s losses to fall to its lowest level since May.

The travel and leisure sector also declined, reflecting persistent rises in coronavirus cases around the world and the prospect of tighter lockdown restrictions, including in the UK. Shares in British Airways owner IAG slumped 12 per cent, while Trainline shares lost 9 per cent and InterContinental Hotels shares fell 5 per cent.

Recovery

US stock futures also fell, indicating that the S&P 500 will fall by around 1.2 per cent when it opens later in the day. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasuries dropped to 0.66 per cent, indicating rising demand for haven assets.

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"We do expect the pace of recovery to slow over the next several quarters in most if not all economies as the virus spreads faster with the arrival of cold weather in the northern hemisphere, and thanks to a likely halt in US fiscal support until after the election this November," said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Shares in banks fell sharply, in part reflecting the long-running pressure on bond yields and the prospect of a lengthy period of near-zero interest rates. But pressure intensified after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organisations including BuzzFeed alleged that international banks had flagged up suspicious transfers worth more than $2tn to US anti-money laundering authorities between 1999 and 2017.

Banks including Lloyds Banking, Barclays and HSBC slid in early morning trading, with HSBC's London-listed shares falling 3 per cent to their lowest point for more than 20 years.

Bank shares have taken a heavy blow in recent months as low interest rates have depressed the profits they earn from lending and concerns have swirled over the trajectory of the global economy.

European policymakers are debating the future of pandemic stimulus programmes, with the European Central Bank having initiated a review of its bond-buying programme and the UK’s Treasury planning to announce an extension of its business support loan programme on Monday. The UK government is also under pressure to decide whether to extend the furlough scheme beyond October 31st.

Shock

The downbeat start to the week’s trading may come a shock to many fund managers, who have increasingly been betting on a rapid global economic recovery. All but a small minority of 186 investors and strategists surveyed in September by Absolute Strategy Research expected corporate earnings to be higher in the next 12 months, equities to beat bonds and cyclical stocks, such as retailers and carmakers, to outperform defensive stocks. The survey is the most optimistic since December 2016.

“I’m surprised at how much optimism is embedded in the survey. I don’t think we expected it to be quite so robust,” said David Bowers, ASR’s head of research.

An EU summit later in the week is likely to focus on the developing pandemic, Brexit negotiations and how better to crack down on tech giants that operate in Europe and are deemed to have excessive market dominance.

Asian markets were also under pressure as the week began. China's CSI 300 fell 1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.1 per cent, with Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC down 4 per cent to their lowest point for more than 25 years. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2020

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