Daily summary: US stocks tumble from record highs

• UK rolls out AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine
• Georgia Senate runoff elections
• US stocks sink, European indices finished session slightly higher

The European stock market started the first session of the year higher,  however momentum faded away in the afternoon as investors were concerned about the impact of new restrictive measures on the EU economy. Germany extended lockdown until January 31st; while Scotland introduced a national lockdown similar to the one introduced in March. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that he may have to impose tighter restrictions as Covid-19 cases soar. Early in the session sentiment was lifted on news, that Britain became the first country to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (AZN.UK) and Oxford University, a cheaper and more easily stored alternative to the vaccine developed by Pfizer (PFE.US) and BioNTech(BNTX.US), which is already in use. Meanwhile PMI surveys showed the Eurozone manufacturing sector grew in December by the most since May 2018. DAX 30 finished today's session near the flat line at 13,727, CAC rose 0.7 % and FTSE100 gained 1.8%.

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 launched today's session at fresh record highs but soon bears managed to take control and all three major indices are trading more than 2% lower with shares of Coca-Cola and Boeing among the worst performers. Tesla stock jumped 4% after the company reported better-than-expected December deliveries numbers. Politics weighed on market sentiment as the  prospect of the runoff elections for Georgia's two Senate seats could tip control of the upper chamber to the Democrats and usher in a more radical fiscal policy agenda from the new administration. President Donald Trump put pressure on Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state by finding votes to shift the count in his favor, according to audio obtained by NBC News. Meanwhile global Covid-19 cases surpassed 85 million, of which more than 20.6 million in the US and the surge could intensify as Colorado, California and Florida identified cases of the highly transmissible Covid-19 variant that emerged in the UK. US has administered more than 4.2 million vaccine doses so far and the pace is picking up, according to Dr. Fauci. On the data front, US Manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 57.1 pts in December from a preliminary of 56.5 and 56.7 in November. The reading pointed to the strongest growth in factory activity since September of 2014.

US crude futures are trading 1.8% lower at $ 47.63 a barrel, while Brent contract fell 1.3% to $ 51.09 as investors await the OPEC+ meeting outcome. Elsewhere, gold futures rose 2.0% to $ 1,937.50 /oz, while silver is trading 2.50%  higher near $ 27.04/oz. Bitcoin fell sharply today, after reaching record high of $34,800 on Sunday, with traders citing volatility in highly leveraged futures markets.