By Nikhil Sharma
(Reuters) – European shares jumped on Wednesday following four sessions of declines after Ukraine accepted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.9%, as of 0933 GMT.
“There is some optimism as news is hitting the wires. In the end, more important than just the ceasefire is also the news that the U.S. resumes its support for Ukraine,” said Bas van Geffen, quantitative analyst at Rabobank.
The U.S. agreed on Tuesday to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv following Ukraine’s willingness to accept the proposal.
A majority of sub-indexes on the STOXX 600 clocked gains in early trading, led by a 1.7% jump in the index of European banks.
Zealand Pharma jumped 24% after Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche acquired rights to an obesity therapy by the biotech firm in a collaboration deal worth up to $5.3 billion. Shares of index heavyweight Roche were up 4.1% at a more than two-year high.
Europe’s retail-focused index was an outlier and fell 2.8%, hit by a 7% fall in Inditex after the Zara owner reported a slower start to its first quarter, beginning February 1.
Puma tumbled 22.2% to a more than eight-year low as the German sportswear group gave a disappointing outlook for first-quarter sales.
Porsche fell 3.7% after the luxury carmaker said its extensive restructuring, as well as trade tensions and intensifying competition in China, will weigh on 2025 earnings.
The benchmark index lost 1.7% in the previous session after U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum products, a move which he soon backtracked.
His unpredictable trade policies have taken a hit on global markets, with the S&P 500 wiping out an eye-watering $4 trillion in market value from its recent peak hit last month.
“Trump’s direction is more or less clear, but the details seem to change day after day. As a result, it’s very difficult to see exactly what is and what isn’t priced currently in markets,” Rabobank’s van Geffen added.
Trump’s increased tariffs on all U.S. steel and aluminium imports took effect on Wednesday, drawing swift retaliation from Europe that vowed to impose counter tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of U.S. goods from next month.
Meanwhile, all eyes were on a key U.S. inflation data later in the day, where any higher-than-expected reading might fuel concerns of stagflation in the world’s largest economy.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Maju Samuel)
