European travel, French retail: Down on tighter COVID-19 restriction fears

Maisons du Monde SA

22/01/2021 09:57

** Shares in travel and retail stocks fall after France
flags compulsory PCR tests for travellers and another possible
strict lockdown, while the EU proposes tighter travel
restrictions  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nP6N2IB02M  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JW32T  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JW0PN
    ** European travel & leisure  .SXTP  index is down 2.5% with
TUI  TUIT.L  and airlines IAG  ICAG.L  and Lufthansa  LHAG.DE 
among top fallers
    ** Air France-KLM (-3%) said on Thursday it would cut an
additional 1,000 jobs in 2021 and warned that new Dutch COVID-19
test restrictions for passengers would ground its long-haul
flights  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JW1MV
    ** "The market is taking increased lockdown and testing
measures a little bit too hard," says Bernstein analyst Daniel
Roeska and adds moves are not big or surprising for airlines
during a pandemic
    ** Roeska is "confident that we'll see an improvement in the
situation in the next six months, and hopefully get back to a
largely unconstrained travel environment by the end of the year"
    ** French retailers Fnac Darty  FNAC.PA  and Maisons du
Monde  MDM.PA  are down 3.4% and 6.7%, respectively, at 0925 GMT
    ** "At this stage, investors believe Fnac Darty will be
allowed to keep certain departments seen as essential open,
while Maisons du Monde will most likely be forced to shut all
its stores," says Bryan Garnier analyst Clement Genelot
    ** Genelot believes the momentum on specialised retailers
wil remain bad in the coming weeks over the fears of a potential
new lockdown and lack of visibility at the end of the lockdown

    

 ((sarah.morland@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 92;))