Canada’s main stock index fell for the second session in a row on Tuesday, with the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite dipping below the 19,100 level dragged by a massive selloff in the healthcare and industrials sectors. A lack of fresh catalysts to fed animals spirits and caution over a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant in the community prompted some profit-taking from investors. Canadian National Railway Co was among the biggest laggards on the TSX after the company trumped a rival bid by Canadian Pacific to buy Kansas City Southern.

European bourses posted on Tuesday the biggest one-day drop since January 29th, with the DAX 30 retreating 1.6% and other major bourses falling between 2% and 2.9%, amid concerns over mounting infections in parts of the world. The UK has put India on its “red list” of travel destinations, as the second-most populous country in the world battles a worrying COVID surge. European stocks hit Monday an all-time high, supported by hopes of a quicker economic recovery due to an acceleration in the vaccine pace in Europe. The EU has secured on Monday an additional 100 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total of doses to be delivered this year to 600 million. At the same time, the European Medicines Agency said it has found a possible link between Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine and rare blood clotting issues, but backed its overall benefits against any risks. On the corporate front, BMW’s first-quarter earnings results beat expectations.

After rising earlier in the session to over one-month highs, WTI crude futures fell almost 2% to around $62 a barrel pressured by a rebound in the dollar. Oil prices touched their highest level since March 18th at $64.3 earlier in the day, buoyed by a disruption to Libyan exports and in anticipation that US crude inventories fell in the last week. Gains have been supported after both the IEA and the OPEC raised their 2021 oil demand forecasts by 230,000 bpd and 100,000 bpd, respectively.

The UK unemployment rate fell for a second month in a row to 4.9 percent in the three months to February, a period when the country was under a tight COVID lockdown. The rate came in also below market consensus of 5.1 percent, supported by the government's furlough scheme, which was extended last month until the end of September. The number of unemployed people was down by 50,000 to 1.67 million, the first decrease since October to December 2019, while employment levels dropped by 73,000 to 32.43 million, less than market consensus of a 150,000 decline. Meanwhile, employment was sharply down by 643,000 compared to the same period last year, the largest annual decrease since May to July 2009. Also, the number of employees on company payrolls fell by 56,000 between February and March, pushing up the total number of jobs lost since the coronavirus outbreak to 813,000.

The S&P BSE Sensex erased early gains to close 0.5% lower at 47,706 on Tuesday, its lowest level since January 29th, amid concerns about the negative impact of fresh restrictive measures on India's economic recovery. The state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, tightened Covid-19-related curbs, allowing shops to stay open only between 7 AM and 11 AM, while eastern state of Jharkhand announced a week-long lockdown starting Wednesday. IT, financials, and heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HUL, and Ultratech Cement were among the worst performers, while the pharma sector gained as the COVID-19 crisis deepened.

Russia's gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year in March of 2021, rebounding from a revised 2.5 percent contraction in the previous month. It was the first expansion since March last year, supported by manufacturing and related industries.

The FTSE MIB closed 603 points or 2.4% lower at 24,089 on Tuesday, the worst session for the key Italian stock index since December and in line with its European peers, as investors continued to monitor the earnings season, while pandemic woes filled the background. The EU Medicines Agency said there’s a possible link between the J&J jab and the rare blood clots cases but reaffirmed the benefits outweighed the risks. On the corporate side, Mediaset plunged 5.3% after a court ruling rejected its compensation claims against French media company Vivendi. Finally, BPER Banca announced the sale of assets in risk of becoming NPLs for a gross book value of €420 Million, as part of its de-risking strategy, while Creval rejected the higher bid price of €12.2 per share offered by Credit Agricole.

The CAC 40 closed 132 or 2.1% lower at 6,165 on Tuesday, the worst session for the key French stock index since December and in line with its European peers, after touching a two-decade high of 6,297 hit in the previous session. Sentiment was dented by disappointing earnings in France and pandemic woes. French multinational Danone shed 1.8% after posting a 3.3% drop in Q1 sales, reflecting the impact of the health crisis. The worst performer was Atos, with a 5.5% plunge, after reporting a 3.9% organic loss in Q1 revenues to €2,692 Billion. Looking ahead, traders await the ECB monetary policy due Thursday.

Real wages in Russia rose 2.0 percent year-on-year in February of 2021, accelerating from a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month and easily beating market expectations of a 0.2 percent gain. Meantime, average nominal wages climbed 7.8 percent to RUB 51,229.