Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock market gains added to recent strong rally driven in part by the hope that Omicron Covid-19 is less harmful than other versions.

At 3:35 AM ET (0835 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.1% higher, the in France rose 0.5% and the U.K.’s climbed 0.5%. 

According to a South African study, booster doses may be produced by Pfizer German partner BioNTech, (NASDAQ:), might be able to help prevent Omicron-related infection. The study however showed that Omicron can partly evade protection even with only two doses. BioNTech stock fell 0.7%.

GlaxoSmithKline (NASDAQ:)’s antibody-based therapy was successful against the disease in a previous study. It was administered with Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ :).

No matter what the latest news regarding Omicron may be, Europe continues to fight against a fourth pandemic. Germany was the country that recorded the largest number of Covid-19-related deaths since February.

Wednesday will also mark the end of a golden era for Germany, as Olaf Scholz replaces Angela Merkel as chancellor. 

In corporate news, L’Oreal (PA:) stock rose 1.2% and Nestle (SIX:) rose 1.7%, after the world’s largest food company said late Tuesday it would cut its stake in the French cosmetics company to about 20%, reducing its holding for the first time in seven years.

L’Oreal said the deal will have an accretive effect on the company’s earnings per share of more than 4% in a full year.

The stock of Tui (DE) fell 2.8% following a loss of more than 2 billion euros ($2.26billion) annually. They also warned about the impact of Omicron news on bookings. HelloFresh shares plummeted 6.9% after the provider for meal-kits offered mediocre guidance in 2022.

Umicore stock (BS:) fell 5.1% following the announcement by the Belgian chemicals-recycling company that it would establish a venture for battery materials to supply Volkswagen (DE;), in an effort to expand its production of electric vehicles. VW stock rose 1.6% on news that the Porsche/Piech control may sell its Porsche luxury brand in order to fund the switch to e-mobility.

After two days of gains, crude oil prices fell Wednesday as investors reacted to the Omicron threat to global oil demand.

Oil supply data showed that there was a draw just above 3 million barrels of oil last week. Investors are now awaiting crude oil supply data for the U.S. earlier in the day to confirm this.

U.S. crude oil futures were trading 0.8% lower at $71.50 per barrel by 2AM ET. The contract was 0.6% lower at $74.97. The benchmarks saw gains of under 5% and more than 3%, respectively on Monday and Tuesday.

The price also rose 0.2% to $1.787.85/oz and traded 0.2% higher at 1.1285