European stocks fell more than 2% on Monday amid a global sell-off in equities, with investors fretting over the spectre of tighter pandemic curbs hitting the global economy as cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant surge.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was down 2.2%, falling to its lowest in more than two weeks.

"The rate at which the virus is picking up is increasing fears that governments are going to bring in tighter restrictions which could curtail movement and hamper economic activity," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Madden added that lower liquidity in the last weeks of December could also be leading to the exacerbated moves.

Meanwhile, futures tracking the U.S. stocks benchmark S&P 500 (.EScv1) skid 1.8% after U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is key to President Joe Biden's hopes of passing a $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, said on Sunday he would not support the package.

Goldman Sachs cut U.S. real GDP forecast for the first quarter of 2022 to 2% versus 3% previously, and marginally reduced forecasts for the second and third quarters.

Shares in argenx (ARGX.BR) leaped 8.2% to the top of the benchmark after the Belgian group reached a regulatory milestone for its receptor blocker.

The worst performer, however, was Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), which plunged 10.8% after the Danish drugmaker said it would not be able to meet demand for its new obesity drug due to U.S. supply issues. read more

BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) slipped 0.6% after the French lender agreed to sell its U.S. unit, Bank of the West, to Canada's BMO Financial Group for around $16.3 billion. read more

Sweden's BillerudKorsnas (BILL.ST) dropped 6.9% after saying it would buy U.S.-based coated paper producer Verso (VRS.N) for around $825 million in cash as the pulp and paper manufacturer looks to expand into North America. read more

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