European shares slip as lockdown worries, miners drag

European shares kicked off the week on a tepid note as investors fretted over the possibility of fresh COVID-19 lockdowns, while miners were hit the most following a tumble in metal prices after China promised to "phase down" coal at the COP26 summit. The STOXX 600 index was flat, weighed down by a 1% drop in miners as iron ore and metal prices tumbled.

European shares kicked off the week on a tepid note as investors fretted over the possibility of fresh COVID-19 lockdowns, while miners were hit the most following a tumble in metal prices after China promised to "phase down" coal at the COP26 summit.

The STOXX 600 index was flat, weighed down by a 1% drop in miners as iron ore and metal prices tumbled. Observers at the U.N. climate talks got a bit nervous on Saturday when representatives of the United States and the EU went into a meeting with their counterparts from China and India to discuss some of the deal's language around "phasing out" coal. {MET/L]

UK-listed miners Glencore, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were down between 0.9% and 1.3%. Adding to the caution, Austria became the first European country to reinstate a fresh lockdown, placing millions of unvaccinated people under restrictions amid record-level infection rates.

Shares of Philips, which is recalling ventilators due to use of parts containing a potentially hazardous foam, slid 8.5% after the medical equipment maker announced it was in dicussions with U.S. regulators following a new inspection of one of its facilities. Airbus jumped 2.6% after it got a multi-billion-dollar order for 255 single-aisle A321neo passenger jets from private-equity firm Indigo Partners' portfolio airlines.

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