European stock markets lost a few feathers on Thursday due to slight concerns about the economic consequences of the health crisis but remain very solid after a recent surge generated by optimism around a vaccine against Covid-19.

In Paris, the star CAC 40 index lost 0.67%, only its third decline since the start of a month when it rose 19%. Frankfurt for its part lost 0.88% and London 0.80%, the two places having also taken 13% since November 1.

Wall Street was moving in dispersed order at mid-session around 5:30 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones down 0.50% and the S&P 500 by 0.22%. Only the Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, rose by 0.44%.

"It's a breathing session," notes AFP Philippe Cohen, manager for Kiplink Finance.

The stock market surge of the last three weeks has been enabled by the euphoria following the American election and then the successive announcements by several pharmaceutical companies of promising vaccine projects against Covid-19.

On Thursday, a few American indicators came to remind us that despite the ambient optimism, the economic planet was still far from out of the woods.

“Traders have not forgotten the promising news from Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, but fears over economic damage have been at the center of concerns”, observes David Madden, analyst for CMC Markets UK.

Jobless claims rose sharply again last week in the United States, where new local restrictions were imposed in the face of the surge in Covid-19 cases, according to figures from the Labor Department.

Moreover, in the very industrial region of Philadelphia, manufacturing activity has slowed down even if it is still positive.

Businesses linked to the recovery in general economic activity suffered from renewed health fears.

Among the banks, Societe Generale lost 1.41% and HSBC in London 0.25%. Among companies linked to aeronautics, Safran dropped 1.72%.

Companies linked to the technology industry, the big winner of the pandemic, fared better, such as Dassault Systemes (+0.45%), Worldline (+0.44%) and Atos (+0.43%). in Paris.

In Frankfurt, the meal delivery specialist, Delivery Hero gained 3.73%.