European markets experienced a modest uptick on Monday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of potential tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, accompanied by a commitment to introduce additional reciprocal tariffs in the coming days.
Investor confidence was buoyed by the possibility of further monetary easing from the European Central Bank. ECB Governing Council member Boris Vujcic suggested that prospects for three additional rate cuts this year are plausible.
The European economic landscape saw limited activity, with the highlight being the release of the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence data expected later in the day.
In earlier developments, an S&P Global report indicated that job vacancies in the U.K. experienced their steepest decline since August 2020. The drop was particularly pronounced in permanent positions, marking the fifth consecutive month of accelerated contraction. This trend was attributed to the rising costs of employment driven by recent changes in government policy.
In market movements, the pan-European STOXX 600 rose by 0.3% to 544.45, recovering from a 0.4% dip on Friday. Germany's DAX increased by 0.3%, France's CAC 40 went up by 0.2%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed by 0.5%.
The energy sector benefited from rising oil prices, with TotalEnergies SE seeing a nearly 1% gain. BP surged by 7.2% following activist investor Elliott Investment Management's acquisition of a stake in the firm.
In other corporate news, Finland’s Nokia advanced by 1.6% after naming a new CEO. Meanwhile, engineering firm GTT Group saw a 4% decline in Paris following the resignation of its chief executive, Jean-Baptiste Choimet.
Johnson Matthey, a leader in sustainable technologies, gained 1% following the appointment of Richard Pike as their new CFO.
