Travel and Leisure names sped ahead at the end of the week, pacing gains at the pan-European level amid optimism triggered by figures showing a sustained drop in new Covid-19 infections in the UK.
According to the latest tally from John Hopkins University, the daily pace of new Covid-19 infections in the UK had dropped by approximately 64% from its most recent peak.
Indeed, there was an ongoing political debate as to how quickly reopening the economic should proceed.
Yet as Ian Shepherdson note, despite 15% of Britain’s population having already been vaccinated “the experience of Israel shows that even much higher vaccination rates can be overwhelmed by increased social mixing.”
The story on the Continent was similar, with the Stoxx 600 Travel&Leisure gauge advancing 1.89% thanks to figures showing that the number of new virus cases had flattened out in France and was starting to decline in Spain.
Top performing sectors so far today
Travel & Leisure 8,475.60 +2.40%
Insurance (non-life) 3,243.04 +1.86%
Equity Investment Instruments 13,362.74 +1.74%
Oil & Gas Producers 4,591.02 +1.50%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,728.77 +1.41%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,733.77 -2.00%
Personal Goods 34,030.49 -1.78%
Chemicals 14,104.51 -1.61%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 15,442.88 -1.36%
Construction & Materials 6,911.97 -1.28%
