By Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) -European shares rose on Monday, building on two consecutive weekly gains, as investors looked ahead to potential tariff developments and a busy week of earnings and economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.4%, as of 0828 GMT. Other regional indexes – Germany, France, Spain, and the UK – gained between 0.3% and 0.5%.
Market sentiment was supported by signs of easing U.S.-China trade tensions last week.
Still, conflicting communication on trade-related progress from the world’s two largest economies continues to keep investors on the edge.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he has not discussed tariffs with Chinese officials and doesn’t know if President Donald Trump had talked to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
China has repeatedly denied Trump’s claims that tariff-related negotiations were ongoing. Though China on Friday exempted some U.S. goods from its 125% tariffs, according to businesses that have been notified, in the clearest sign yet of Beijing’s concerns about the trade war’s fallout.
“China and the U.S. seem to be closer to potentially working towards an agreement on tariffs, there’s still a lot of uncertainty, of course, but we’ve definitely got that positive momentum coming through,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
“We’re still seeing investors favour European stocks over U.S. stocks when it comes to trying to buy into risk appetite.”
Investors also await inflation reports from the euro zone and the United States, scheduled for release later in the week. The monthly U.S. employment report is expected on Friday.
Major European lenders HSBC, Societe Generale SA, and Barclays are slated to announce their earnings this week.
Earnings reports from major U.S. companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, are also set to be released in the coming days.
European Central Bank policymakers are becoming increasingly confident about cutting interest rates in June as inflation continues its march lower, but there is little to no appetite for a big move, six sources told Reuters.
Shares of Deliveroo surged 16.3% after the British meal delivery company said on Friday that it received a takeover proposal from DoorDash on April 5.
Airbus rose 1.6% after it finalized an agreement to take some assets from Spirit AeroSystems, both companies said.
Banca Generali climbed 7.3% after peer Mediobanca announced a 6.3-billion-euro ($7.15 billion) offer for the Italian private bank.
On the other side, Marks and Spencer fell 2.4% as the British retailer’s online orders remain suspended in the UK and Ireland following a cyber attack last week.
($1 = 0.8796 euros)
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
