GLOBAL MARKETS-Pfizer vaccine hopes help soothe shaky markets

* Wall Street futures rise
* European shares bounce back
* Sterling briefly falls on Brexit comment
* Oil prices slide

By Julien Ponthus
LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Hopes that Pfizer PFE.N could
apply for a U.S. emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in
November helped soothe financial markets shaken by fears
that that the resurgent coronavirus pandemic may undermine a
fragile economic recovery.
Wall Street futures jumped back into positive territory and
European stocks accelerated gains when the U.S. pharmaceutical
group said the regulatory filing for the vaccine could come as
soon as safety data is available in the third week of November.

In midday trading the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX rose
0.8% after losing over 2% on Thursday as new social restrictions
in Europe, including a curfew in major French cities and tighter
restrictions in London, spooked investors.
As the global race to develop a coronavirus vaccine heats
up, financial markets have been tracking every twist and turn,
hoping a successful deployment would help sustain economic
recovery. S&P 500 futures Esc1 were up 0.3% after U.S. stocks ended
Thursday's session down following a rise in weekly jobless
claims.
U.S. President Donald Trump's offer on Thursday to increase
the size of a fiscal stimulus package to win the support of
Republicans and Democrats helped limit Wall Street's losses,
though many investors still believe a deal is unlikely before
the Nov. 3 election.
In a sign of improved mood on the trading floors, the euro
EUR=EBS also regained some ground, rising about 0.2% to
$1.1736 as investors shifted from perceived safe havens such as
the dollar =USD , which declined 0.2% against a basket of
currencies.
Sterling stumbled after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told
businesses to get ready for a no-deal Brexit in case
negotiations with the European Union fail to produce a free
trade agreement.
The pound, however, recovered some ground and was trading
unchanged against the dollar at $1.2904 as the head of the
European Commission said the bloc's team would go to London next
week to continue talks with the UK.
Exposing the uncertainties over the economic outlook, oil
prices fell, dragged down by concerns that the spike in COVID-19
cases in Europe and the United States is curtailing demand in
two of the world's biggest fuel consuming regions.
"It's a tug-of-war between risks that are well flagged, the
pandemic, the U.S. election, Brexit, and at the same time hope
that these same risks can be resolved in matter of weeks or
months", said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at
Barclays.
"In the meantime, it's hard for investors to take positions
on the short term given all the uncertainties," he said.
"Looking forward to 2021, there's a good probability these risks
will be behind us."
Brent crude futures for December LCOc1 fell 1% to $42.72 a
barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for
November delivery CLc1 slid 0.9% to $40.56.
Also exposing market angst, Germany's 10-year bond yield was
set for its biggest weekly drop since June and stabilised near
seven-month lows.
Spot gold XAU= prices were flat at $1,909.16 but looked
set for their first weekly drop in three.

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