European equities traded choppily on Tuesday, with both the STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 fluctuating between modest gains and losses as investors returned from the Easter break and closely watched developments in the Middle East. The conflict with Iran entered its sixth week, and President Trump warned that, absent an agreement by his Tuesday deadline, the US military could target key Iranian infrastructure. He also noted that talks with Iran were “going well” and stressed that reopening the strait remains “a very big priority”.
Oil prices stayed volatile against this backdrop of heightened geopolitical risk. Sector-wise, basic materials, financials, and both consumer cyclicals and non-cyclicals outperformed, while technology stocks lagged. Among individual names, LVMH (up 1.3%), Nestlé (1.4%), Hermès (1.8%), and Unilever (1.0%) advanced. By contrast, ASML Holding dropped about 3% after US lawmakers introduced the MATCH Act, a bill designed to tighten existing restrictions on sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, with the aim of further curbing exports of chipmaking tools to China.
