European Stock Futures Higher; Global Recovery Continues By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stock Futures Higher; Global Recovery Continues By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open marginally higher Thursday, continuing the global rally amid growing confidence that the global economic recovery will survive the surge of Omicron variant cases.

At 2 AM ET (0705 GMT), the contract in Germany traded largely flat, in France climbed 0.4% and the contract in the U.K. rose 0.5%.

Equity indexes in Asia have largely traded higher Thursday, a third consecutive session of gains, following on from the strong close on Wall Street overnight. This positive tone is expected to continue in Europe as investors breathe a sigh of relief on the back of positive signs about the impact of the omicron variant of Covid-19 as the year comes to an end.

A couple of studies released Wednesday, one from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and major universities in South Africa and another from Imperial College London, suggested reduced risks of hospitalization and severe disease in people infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant versus the Delta one, the previous dominant strain.

New data from the U.K. Health Security Agency on the severity of the Omicron variant is set to be published later