Global stocks drop as rising coronavirus cases in Europe worry investors – with all eyes on Jerome Powell and Janet Yellen

Global stocks drop as rising coronavirus cases in Europe worry investors – with all eyes on Jerome Powell and Janet Yellen

Global stocks fell on Tuesday, as rising coronavirus cases in Europe worried investors and US futures slipped after a tech rally on Monday.

Dow Jones futures were down 0.33% and S&P 500 futures were off by 0.36%. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.31% after the index rose 1.71% on Monday when bond yields eased.

China's CSI 300 fell 0.95% overnight while Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.61%.

In Europe, the continent-wide Stoxx 600 index fell 0.58% while London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.4% despite the UK unemployment rate unexpectedly falling to 5%. Turkish stocks sank as much as 7% before recovering after the president sacked the country's central bank chief.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, will go back into a strict lockdown over Easter to try to curb rising coronavirus cases. France has tightened lockdown measures in many regions, while Italy has imposed new restrictions a year after it became the first European country to do so.

"This presents a problem for the travel sector and the potential for a speedy recovery, given the slow nature of the [vaccine] rollout due to supply as well as hesitancy concerns," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said.

Global stocks have had a volatile time recently as rising bond yields have