European Markets Close Mixed Amid Brexit Uncertainty

NYSE
  • The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed marginally above the flatline, with the travel and leisure stocks surging 3.5%, while chemicals shares declined 1.1%.
  • Britain's FTSE 100 index outperformed its major European counterparts, climbing 0.4%.
  • It comes amid uncertainty over post-trade deal Brexit talks between the U.K. and EU.

LONDON — European stocks closed mixed on Thursday as Brexit uncertainty weighed on investor sentiment.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed marginally above the flatline, with the travel and leisure stocks surging 3.5%, while chemicals shares declined 1.1%. Britain's FTSE 100 index outperformed its major European counterparts, climbing 0.4%.

It comes amid uncertainty over post-trade deal Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union. EU officials reportedly said Thursday that "significant divergences" remain on the most thorny issues in talks with the U.K.

On Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country to grant emergency approval to the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are expected to make determinations on that vaccine and a similar vaccine from Moderna soon.

Still, the rollout of the vaccine is expected to take many months as the coronavirus crisis continues to hit hard in the U.S. which now has more than 100,000 patients hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project, which is run by journalists at The Atlantic.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks extended their recent record-setting run as better-than-expected economic data boosted sentiment.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 712,000 last week, lower than an estimate of 780,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Jobless claims also fell for the first time in three weeks as the labor market showed resilience even in the face of a worsening pandemic.

The Labor Department is set to release its closely watched jobs report for November on Friday.

In terms of individual share price movement in Europe, Rolls-Royce added more than 15% to lead the Stoxx 600 after Bloomberg reported that the company sees a chance to return to the narrow-body jet market.

At the bottom of the European blue-chip index, German software company Nemetschek and Norwegian hydrogen storage company Nel fell around 5% and 4%, respectively.

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- CNBC.com staff contributed to this market report.

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