Europe midday: Shares extend losses as EU/UK vaccine spat spooks investors

European shares extended losses on Thursday as investors fretted over a potential threat to AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine supply chain amid a contractual row between the EU and UK.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.63% at midday, with all regional bourses in the red.

EU leaders were reportedly set to pull back from a threat to ban vaccine exports after the European Commission suggested it would implement the measure to guarantee supplies to member states.

“Since the summit is set to continue into Friday, and may produce no firm answer given the reservations officials reportedly have over decision-making done via virtual meetings, the markets could be left wanting. However, any hint as to which direction the EU will swing could have an outsized impact on the UK markets especially," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Across the pond, investors were also eyeing US jobless claims, expected to fall back to 727,000 from last week’s 770,000, and a final Q4 GDP reading with analysts expecting an unchanged annualised rate of 4.1%.

In equity news, Cineworld shares led the fallers, slumping almost 10% 8% after reporting a massive $3bn annual loss and revealing that it was asking for shareholder approval to lift debt limits and also raising another $213m in cash.

Travel company TUI fell more than 5% after the company trimmed its capacity for the peak summer travel months to 75% of 2019 levels from 80%.

H&M stock fell 2.2% after at least one Chinese online retailer appeared to drop its products following social media attacks on the Swedish company for saying it was “deeply concerned” about reports of forced labour in the farwestern region of Xinjiang in China.

Shares in German sportswear firm Adidas, which also came under fire in China, were down 5%.