European stocks close day with losses, US indices in negative

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in European stock exchanges closed with losses on Monday, with five of them retreating from last week's records, while US indices were in negative territory.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, was down 2.38 points, or 0.5%, to 473.45.

London's FTSE 100 lost 64 points, or 0.9%, to 7,153 and Germany's DAX 30 fell 51, or 0.32, to 15,925 points.

The French CAC 40 declined 57, or 0.83%, to 6,838 points, while Italy's FTSE MIB was down 203 points, or 0.76%, 26,448. Spain's IBEX 35 lost 73, or 0.81%, to 8,926.

All indices, except Spain, hit new records on Friday, as they posted weekly gains between 1.1% and 2.5%.

The decline on Monday came with investors' worries amid rising coronavirus variant cases around the world, and disappointing macroeconomic data from China.

Rising variant cases have increased the risk of lower global oil demand for the remaining of the year, pushing crude prices down. Brent crude was at $68.85 per barrel with a 1% loss at 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653GMT), while the West Texas Intermediate was down 1.2% at $67.39.

US stock exchanges opened lower Monday, and they were still in negative territory despite some recovery.

The Dow Jones was down 20 points, or 0.06%, at 35,494, while the S&P 500 fell 10, or 0.23%, to 4,457 points. Both indices had reached fresh all-time highs on Friday, as they posted weekly gains of 0.87% and 0.7%, respectively.

The Nasdaq was down the most -- 111 points, or 0.75% to 14,711 at the time.

Recovery in indices showed some decline in the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, with a 7.3% gain at 16.56.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 3.9% to 1.247%, but the dollar index was up 0.1% to 92.61.