(Reuters) - European shares headed lower on Wednesday after a downbeat session on Wall Street, as doubts over a potential COVID-19 vaccine reignited fears about the slow recovery from a looming global recession.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) dropped 0.3% by 0708 GMT in its second day of fall, with banks (SX7P), telecoms (SXKP) and travel & leisure (SXTP) sector stocks leading the decline.
Wall Street indexes fell more than 1% overnight after a media report questioned the validity of the results of U.S. drugmaker Moderna 's (O:MRNA) coronavirus vaccine trial that had sent stock markets soaring on Monday.
In a bright spot, shares of British retailer Marks & Spencer (L:MKS) jumped 5.2% after saying that it would accelerate its latest turnaround programme as it dealt with the fallout from the coronavirus crisis and reported a 21% fall in annual profit.