The latest from London: FTSE 100 bounce is threatened by Covid

The week ended in the red in London, weighed down by rising Covid infections and new curbs in Germany and Austria. Energy and consumer cyclical stocks were the biggest fallers due to a drop in energy prices. The FTSE 100 fell 0.5% on Friday, and 1.7% for the week.

This FTSE 100 bounced back this morning, rising 0.4%, with BT Group jumping 2.8% and Vodafone 2.1%, following a rally in the sector after U.S. fund KKR presented a non-binding proposal to buy Italy's Telecom Italia.

BHP Group was also up due to its merger with Woodside Petroleum, while Marks and Spencer rose 3.1% on the rumour that private equity giant Apollo Global Management is considering a buyout of the company.

Investors are closely watching the Covid situation in central Europe, fearing that Germany could go into full lockdown and other countries could do so as well, just weeks before Christmas.

Things to read today:

Brussels to curb banks’ use of ‘cross-border’ permissions to access EU (Financial Times)

Modern Monetary Theory Isn’t the Future. It’s Here Now (WSJ)