The reopening trade was the theme of European stock market trading on Tuesday, as airlines surged and stay-at-home stocks suffered.
Wizz Air
WIZZ,
led an airline rally, surging as the Central European-focused airline nearly quadrupled passenger traffic in December compared to year-ago levels. Analysts at Citi, however, downgraded Wizz to sell from buy, warning of price pressure and inflationary costs will weigh on its bottom line.
Wizz Air shares surged 12%, with strong gains also seen for rivals International Airlines Group
IAG,
TUI
TUI,
and Ryanair
RYA,
“With yet more indications that omicron, though highly infectious, does not cause such serious illness, a wave of relief is pushing up companies which have been hit by worries about tighter restrictions,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
By contrast, prepared mealkit company HelloFresh
HFG,
stumbled 6%, with food-delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway.com
TKWY,
losing 5% and supermarket delivery firm Ocado
OCDO,
dropping 4%.
The FTSE 100
UKX,
jumped 1.4% after a three-day hiatus, while the Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
rose 0.9%.
The French CAC 40
PX1,
rose 1.3% and the German DAX
DAX,
added 0.8%.
