European and US markets rise on optimism over vaccines

European and US stock markets mostly rose Tuesday on optimism over US stimulus talks and vaccines, but London stumbled ahead of the capital’s tightened coronavirus restrictions and as dealers also tracked Brexit trade talks, AFP reported.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq powered to a fresh record following a bullish session on Wall Street, bolstered by reports congressional leaders were set to meet in person Tuesday afternoon for the first time in months to try to advance a fiscal spending package after numerous earlier failures to reach agreement.

Meanwhile, the British pound rose as Brussels and London continued to pursue extended talks for a long-awaited Brexit trade deal.

“Recent tones out of the EU have highlighted the potential for a breakthrough if the UK and EU are willing to compromise,” Joshua Mahony at IG said in the AFP report.

“However, investors were dealt a fresh dose of reality today after (British Prime Minister Boris) Johnson admitted that a no-deal is the most likely outcome at this point,” he added.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent as a strong pound hurt multinationals which dominate the index and whose earnings are mostly in dollars.

But in the eurozone the Paris CAC 40 nudged higher and in Frankfurt the DAX 30 climbed 1.1 percent as there was good news on the vaccine front.

The European Medicines Agency said on Tuesday it had moved forward a meeting to decide on authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by more than a week to Dec. 21.

And in the US, a second coronavirus vaccine took a step toward emergency use approval when an FDA briefing document recommended experts give Moderna’s jab a green light later this week.