European Shares Slide Amid Delta Variant Concerns

European stocks declined on Monday, as inflation worries persisted and COVID-19 cases spiked across Asia over the weekend.

Closer home, the Delta strain, which has already taken hold in the U.K., is becoming more prevalent elsewhere across Europe.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.3 percent to 456.50 after closing 0.1 percent higher on Friday.

The German DAX was marginally lower, France’s CAC 40 index gave up 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

Travel stocks succumbed to selling pressure as investors remained concerned about a spike in COVID-19 cases across Asia over the weekend. TUI, easyJet, Ryanair Holdings and IAG lost 2-3 percent.

Miners were broadly lower after data over the weekend showed profit growth at China’s industrial firms slowed again in May.

BP Plc fell 1.3 percent, Royal Dutch Shell lost about 1 percent and Total SA shed 1.5 percent as oil prices slipped slightly after earlier climbing to their highest since October 2018.

Burberry Group shares slumped 7.2 percent as Marco Gobbetti quit as chief executive of the luxury fashion brand.

Petrofac shares fell over 2 percent. In its pre-close update for the six months ending 30 June 2021, the oil services group said its overall trading was in line with its expectations.

French drug maker Sanofi edged up slightly after it agreed to sell a portfolio of regional consumer brands to Stada.

JD Sports Fashion declined 1.3 percent. The company announced that its existing 50.02 percent intermediate holding company in Spain, Iberian Sports Retail Group SL, has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 80 percent of the issued shares in Deporvillage SL.