European stocks rose for the third straight session on Wednesday, though a cautious undertone prevailed amid renewed concerns about the emergence of new Covid variants and the threat of inflation. <\/p>\n
Omicron still poses “very high” risk and could overwhelm healthcare systems, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, as the highly transmissible coronavirus<\/span> variant fueled record outbreaks in many countries.<\/p>\n “The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high,” the UN health<\/span> agency said in its Covid-19 weekly epidemiological update.<\/p>\n France’s new coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period hit a record high of 179,807 on Tuesday, by far the highest one-day tallies worldwide since the start of the pandemic. The previous record of 104,611 was set on Saturday.<\/p>\n U.K., Italy, Greece and Portugal all hit record daily infections as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to surge across the continent.<\/p>\n The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 percent to 489.90, after having hit a five-week high in the previous session. <\/p>\n The German DAX slipped 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 jumped more than 1 percent, while France’s CAC 40 index was marginally higher.<\/p>\n Italy’s BPER Banca jumped 2.2 percent after signing workforce optimization agreement with trade unions. <\/p>\n BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell both rose about 1 percent in London on higher oil prices.<\/p>\n AstraZeneca gained 0.8 percent. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a company focused on RNA-targeted therapies, has unveiled the closing of the previously announced collaboration deal with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize eplontersen, following expiration of the waiting period under the HSR Act. <\/p>\n