European stocks wavered Friday, with trading volumes down as American markets remain shut for the Independence Day holiday and investors take stock of a surge in coronavirus infections in the U.S. that could impede the global economic recovery.
The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 drifted between gains and losses. In Asia, most major equity benchmarks closed higher.
U.S. stock futures also wobbled, with contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticking up 0.1%. The gauge for blue-chips stocks ended the week up 3.3% ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.
New daily infections in the U.S. passed 50,000 for the first time earlier this week, marking a single-day record, according to data out Thursday. Texas authorities changed course and required face coverings in most public settings as the state’s coronavirus crisis worsened. The resurgence of cases has led to calls for caution and many cancellations of festivities, and beaches in parts of Florida and California have been closed for the holiday weekend.
Investors are balancing worries about the rising infection level, which may prompt more stringent lockdowns and stall the economic recovery, with signs of the revival in business activity. Unemployment fell in the U.S. and the economy regained 4.8 million jobs in June, according to data released Thursday, but the recent surge in infections could throw that recovery off course.
“You get some dead-cat bounce in the data and that makes people think the economy is recovering and maybe it’ll be V-shaped, but then you have record infections,” said Lyn Graham-Taylor, a rates strategist at Rabobank. “You’re having to take everything with a pinch of salt because we’re coming off such a low base, of course everything looks good.”
In commodities, Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, fell 1.3% to $42.59 a barrel, amid concerns about the economic outlook and demand for energy. The surge in new cases in the U.S. has centered on southern states, which are particularly large consumers of gasoline.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index rallied 2% by the end of the Asian trading day. A private gauge of China’s service-sector activity surged to the highest level in more than a decade in June, according to new data out Friday, as the easing of virus-control measures in most parts of the country drove demand.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark gained 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed almost 1%.
Write to Avantika Chilkoti at Avantika.Chilkoti@wsj.com
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