Europe heads for largest monthly loss since March on Covid-19 fears

European stocks fell on Friday, to deepen losses for the fifth straight day, near touching a 5-month low, while on the cusp of the largest monthly loss since March, due to the second wave of coronavirus infections hitting Europe, which led Germany and France to impose lockdowns.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4% as of 08:25 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.1% yesterday, and hit the lowest since May 25 at 338.57 points.

The pan European index opened lower today, to deepen losses for the fifth straight day, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing red today.

The retail sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, dropping over 0.75%, after major companies reported disappointing business results for the third quarter.

The Stoxx Europe index lost more than 6% so far during October, on the cusp of the fourth monthly loss in 5 months, and the largest monthly loss since last March, due to the second wave of the coronavirus.

The French government announced yesterday a full lockdown starting Friday for a month on all activities, except essential services, and the German government ordered to close bars, theaters, and restaurants, from November 2 until the end of the month to curb the coronavirus spread.

The European Central Bank maintained rates unchanged on Thursday but committed to combating the economic fallout of the second Covid 19 wave. 

S&P 500 futures fell over 1.25%, and hit a 5-week low after closing higher by 1.2% yesterday at Wall Street, and posted the first daily gain in 4 sessions.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.4%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.3%, Germany's DAX fell 0.5%, and the UK's FTSE 100 lost 0.2%.