Europe Stocks Lower Amid Confusion Over EU Summit

European stock markets fell on Monday, with disappointment stemming from evidence that Eurozone leaders are preparing to diminish agreement negotiations on the eurozone recovery fund to counter the pandemic, making it less effective than expected.

The German DAX fell 0.4%, French CAC fell 0.6% and FTSE fell 0.8%.

Five European Union governments – Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Austria – are blocking negotiations of recover fund to save the bloc from the biggest recession since World War Two.

Bloomberg reports that the four governments accept the provision of 390B euros to the fund as grants, not 500B dollars originally envisaged, and the rest is in the form of low-interest loans.

Separately, oil prices fell on Monday, with increased cases of COVID 19 around the world affecting oil demand. OPEC and its allies, OPEC +, also agreed to scale back production cuts for August.

Brent crude futures traded 1% lower at $ 40.34 a barrel while Brent crude fell 1% to $ 42.72.

As for gold, it remained at $ 1,810/oz, while EUR/USD pair traded at 1.1448, up 0.2% during the day.