Investors cautious ahead of European vaccine summit – business live

Investors cautious ahead of European vaccine summit – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

Stock markets had a mixed session yesterday, and reversing earlier declines, European shares closed slightly higher while Wall Street ended in the red, with the Nasdaq down 2% after earlier gains. Asian markets rose mostly, with Japan's Nikkei up 1.1% and Hong Hong's Hang Seng flat.

Europe is set for a lower open today, ahead of the European vaccines summit, where EU leaders will decide whether to ban vaccine exports.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, says:









Tensions between the EU and UK still remain fairly elevated, despite efforts to cool the narrative, while the recent comments from Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, accusing the UK of vaccine nationalism still suggest the potential for a misstep, as feelings continue to run high, particularly on the EU side, where the sense of grievance remains especially elevated.

There is by no means unanimity amongst EU member states about the stance being taken by the EU Commission with