# European stocks nudge higher after worst drubbing in three months amid second wave concerns

The U.K. FTSE 100
UKX,
+0.48%,
German DAX
DAX,
+0.79%
and French CAC 40
PX1,
+0.29%
each edged higher.

Following a 509-point decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.84%,
U.S. stock futures
ES00,
-0.44%
edged lower.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will appear with U.S. Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin in front of a House committee to discuss the largely unspent credit facilities, though he may address other topics. In prepared remarks, Powell said activity has picked up from its depressed second-quarter level, when much of the economy was shut down, but the path forward will “come only when people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities.”

Sweden’s Riksbank held interest rates at zero and said it would continue asset purchases.

Several European countries including France, Spain and the U.K. are grappling with rising coronavirus numbers. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to order pubs in England to shut by 10 p.m. and, in a reversal from the summer, encourage working from home.

“We project a modest temporary setback in response to more modest, better targeted and often regional restrictions,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, of Europe generally. “Many such measures will hit parts of consumer spending (mostly services such as leisure, entertainment, tourism…) disproportionally. We expect these measures to temporarily dampen but not derail the overall economic rebound.”

Whitbread
WTB,
-2.32%,
the Premier Inn owner, fell 4% as it said it would cut up to 6,000 jobs, or 18% of its wokforce. Second-quarter ending Aug. 27 like-for-like sales slumped 75%.

U.K. insurers including Direct Line Insurance
DLG,
-4.34%
and RSA Insurance
RSA,
-1.86%
dropped after the Financial Conduct Authority proposed that when a customer renews their home or motor insurance policy, they pay no more than they would if they were new to their provider through the same sales channel, stamping out a practice called “price walking.”