European stocks back off 4-week high as coronavirus infections spike

European stocks opened lower on Wednesday, to deepen losses for the second straight day, and pullback further from the 4-week high, on profit-taking and investors' risk-aversion, due to the spike of new coronavirus cases in the US.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.5% as of 11:20 GMT, after closing lower by 0.6% yesterday, after hitting a 4-week high of 372.37 points on Monday.

The pan European index opened lower today, to pullback further from the 4-week high on profit-taking, with most European markets and sectors seeing red today.

The banking sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop by 1.7%, falling for the second straight session, after strong gains on Monday.

The US is about to surpass the 3 million cases barrier, with infections spiking in most states, which prompted the state’s authorities to cancel many reopening measures there. 

Florida registered 11,000 new cases in a single day, more than any other daily record by an European country, and the state is about to face a shortage of intensive care unites.

The White House has begun to formally withdraw from the World Health Organization, and President Donald Trump has informed the Congress, after accusing the organization of failing to respond to the pandemic that has killed more than half a million victim.

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.2%, after the index closed lower by 1.1% yesterday at Wall Street, on profit-taking.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.6%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.8%, Germany's DAX fell 0.3%, and the UK's FTSE 100 lost 0.1%.