By Andrea Hargraves 
Omicron and the new reservation destroy European arenas. Stoxx 600 drops more than 2%
European stock markets started the week in the “red”, with investors returning to concerns about the omicron variable and the impact of new restrictions on the global economic recovery.
At this time, the Stoxx 600 Index, which has the largest listed European index and serves as a reference for the region, is down 2.10%. Of the 600 included in the index, 538 are in negative territory and only 55 are against the trend.
The pressure is mainly focused on the oil and gas sectors, which lost 3.20%, followed by the auto sector, which decreased by 3.18%. Tourism also registered a significant decline (2.94%) and banks are losing 2.41%, with no sector in the opposite cycle.
Warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) about the rate of transmission of COVID-19 are alarming investors, who last Friday already showed signs of a weakening appetite for risk.
Several European countries, such as the Netherlands, have already announced new restrictions, and in others, such as the United Kingdom and Portugal, there is talk of a possible exacerbation of existing restrictive measures. In contrast, investors fear that this will affect the recovery after the pandemic.
Here, PSI-20 is down 2.56%, under pressure from EDP Renováveis and BCP. In the remaining European markets, Spain’s IBEX lost 2.27%, Germany’s DAX shed 2.52%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 2.32%, Italy’s FSTE MIB tumbled 2.34%, and Britain’s FSTE tumbled 1.95%.