Peter Nurse 

Investing.com. European stock market traded in a mixed manner on Wednesday. The flatline was maintained by investors who continue to consider the risk associated with Omicron Covid-19 as they head into the new year.

At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.1% lower, the in France rose 0.1% while the U.K.’s dropped 0.3%. 

Politicians are working hard to limit the damage caused by the new variant. This includes increasing vaccinations and imposition of partial or complete lockdowns, as well as other social distancing policies.

The U.K. was one of the hardest-hit countries by Omicron so far, and there were some positive developments. Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of England, stated that he will not put new restrictions in England before Christmas. Rishi Sunak, Chancellor announced 1 billion Pounds ($1.3 billion) extra support to businesses hardest hit by the surge. 

Data released Wednesday morning showed that Britain’s economy expanded slower than expected in the July-September period. This was even before Omicron threatened to cause more economic harm.

U.K. growth was 1.1% for the third quarter. That is less than the 1.3% preliminary estimate.

France saw the latest sign of price pressures in the country, with producer prices rising 3.5% in November. This is due to an egregious increase in the whosesale price of energy, which continued to this month because there have been outages and shortages at French nuclear power plants. For February, the price for French baseload power in France is more than 1,000 Euros per megawatt-hour. This figure is about 20 times that of the average over the previous decade.

Russia increased pressure on the EU in order to get approval for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s gas flow. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin described a military-technical response to alleged threats from NATO influence in Ukraine.

It’s debatable how long stock markets can hold up after Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s European head, warned on Tuesday of “another storm coming … pushing already stretched health systems further to the brink.”

Corporate news: AP Moeller–Maersk stock rose 0.5% following the purchase by Danish shipping company, Danisco, of Hong Kong-based LF Logistics, for $3.6 billion. This all-cash transaction is part of its expansion plan beyond ocean freight.

After the German Food Delivery Group announced that it will reduce its Foodpanda operation in Germany, and also sell its Japan subsidiary, the stock of Delivery Hero (DE) jumped 5.8%. This was due to increased competition and labor shortages.

The Wednesday industry report that pointed to a further sharp fall in oil stockpiles helped to stabilize the prices. But traders were reluctant push the market any higher because of ongoing concern over Omicron disease spread worldwide.

The reported crude stockpiles fell by 3.67 million barrels last week, a larger draw than the 2.63-million-barrel drop expected and much larger than last week’s 815,000-barrel fall. This would make it a fourth weekly drawing if confirmed by Wednesday evening.

U.S. crude futures had traded 0.4% higher by 3:45 AM ET at $71.39/barrel, while contract prices rose 0.2% up to $74.13. 

The price fell 0.1% to $1786.25/oz and traded 0.1% higher at 1.1270.