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* STOXX 600 down 3% on the week
* Ericsson jumps on upbeat earnings
* H&M slides as it fears loss in Q1
(Updates to market close)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 29 (Reuters) - European stocks slid on Friday, recording
their worst weekly performance since October as concerns around
the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines mount, while a retail
trading frenzy led to volatility on Wall Street.
The benchmark STOXX 600 index closed 1.9% lower,
erasing all of January's gains and ending the week down 3.1%
Germany's DAX fell 1.7%, the UK's blue-chip FTSE
100 dropped 1.8% and U.S. stocks fell more than 1% after
underwhelming COVID-19 vaccine data from Johnson & Johnson
.
Concerns around the potential economic damage from a new
strain of the coronavirus in Europe and delays to vaccine
rollouts have dented sentiment in the past few days.
In the U.S., where the stock market enjoyed a stimulus-led
rally last year, volatility was seen following steep gains in
heavily shorted stocks, including Gamestop and AMC
Entertainment after retail traders piled in.
Europe's medicines regulator approved AstraZeneca
and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age
of 18 on Friday, the third vaccine to be cleared for use in the
European Union.
Europe urgently needs more shots to speed up its inoculation
programme, with AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna
facing difficulties in delivering the shipments to the bloc.
"We're postponing the recovery story a little bit because of
the lockdown measures and challenges for European growth," said
Joseph Little, global chief strategist at HSBC Global Asset
Management, London.
"I'm still optimistic on parts of Europe which have lagged
rather badly, economically and in markets. They could begin to
perform as the cyclical catch-up becomes more important."
Economy-linked stocks of banks, insurers,
miners and oil & gas companies were among the
worst hit this week but Germany and Spain's economies recorded
growth in the fourth quarter, while the French economy
contracted by a smaller than expected rate.
In a busy day for earnings, Sweden's Ericsson
jumped 7.6% after reporting fourth-quarter core earnings ahead
of market estimates on the back of strong sales of 5G equipment.
Daimler edged up 0.9% after it said a strong
fourth quarter helped it post better-than-expected 2020 group
operating profit and that it was optimistic for 2021.
Swedish fashion retailer H&M fell 5.0% as it braced
for a loss in the first quarter after full-year profits
plummeted due to COVID-19.
Europe's earnings season has been largely positive so far.
Of the 8% of STOXX 600 companies that have reported, 78% have
topped profit estimates, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; editing by Bernard
Orr and Elaine Hardcastle)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
