Stock markets fall as rise in US Covid-19 cases trumps vaccine hopes    

New York is latest state to introduce social distancing restrictions

The Charging Bull statue  in New York's financial district. 

European and US stock markets fell as a surge in Covid-19 cases in the US trumped hopes for the development of a vaccine. 

New York became the latest state to introduce social distancing restrictions this week, as new infections in the country surged above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day.

The blue-chip Dow dropped 0.5% as industrial and financial companies sensitive to economic growth fell, with Boeing and Goldman Sachs down about 2% each. Airlines and cruise operators, among the hardest hit by the outbreak in the US, also fell.

In Ireland, the Iseq Overall index fell by almost 1%. 

Wall Street’s three main indexes have climbed between 8% and 10% in less than two weeks on prospects of measured industry regulation from a potentially divided congress, as well as an encouraging update from a late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial.

“The focus has shifted back from politics, election, stimulus to where it was before, the virus and its economic impact,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.

“Given the fact that the virus spread is more geographically diverse than it was in the summer and early in spring, it is causing some alarm in the public health community and policy makers have started to think if restrictions can be effective and how to go about implementing them.”