European stocks bounce off 4-week high on profit-taking

European stocks opened low on Tuesday, to pullback from the 4-week high that was hit yesterday, on profit-taking and investors' risk-aversion, after the US government failed so far to contain the coronavirus outbreak, and after the reemergence of new cases in several countries, especially Australia.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.9% as of 11:15 GMT, after closing higher by 1.6% yesterday, hitting a 4-week high of 372.37 points, after strong rally in Chinese stock market and hopes for a quick recovery by the world's second largest economy.

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

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop by 1.5%, on the negative news about the coronavirus pandemic.

As for the US, the Miami metropolitan area in Florida registered 11,000 new cases in a single day, more than any other daily record by an European country, which prompted the state’s authorities to cancel many reopening measures there. 

Johns Hopkins University reported that new cases of Covid-19 virus are still spiking in most US states, with a total of 2.9 million confirmed cases and a death toll of more than 130,000 victims.

New cases in Australia have risen as well among other countries, raising concerns of a second wave of the pandemic. 

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.9%, after the index closed higher by 1.6% yesterday at Wall Street, posting the fifth daily gain, on US services PMI data.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 1%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.9%, Germany's DAX fell 1.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 lost 1.2%.