Markets mixed, Europe faces renewed COVID-19 lockdowns

Markets were mixed on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5 percent.

However, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 percent.

While European stocks were weighed down by new restrictions on business activity and travel in several European countries to contain the rising number of COVID-19 cases, Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at StoneX, suggested that “the market seems comfortable with the measures being taken as long as they are not large-scale stay-at-home orders”.

Still, James Griffith at CNN suggested that “much of Europe stares down the barrel of renewed coronavirus lockdowns, and a potentially miserable -- and deadly -- winter to come”, whereas China, where the COVID-19 virus was first detected, is now recovering much better.