London: European stock markets hugged higher on Monday as they edged on with happy mood gains they noticed for two consecutive days last week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5% as of 0709 GMT, with other regional indexes on the green. The risk asset sentiment was bolstered by US-China concerns.
Market participants expect key updates on the road to US-China tariff negotiations. Last week showed a bit of hope that reports of bringing down US-China trade tension were confirmed.
However, a picture of mixed messages still prevails. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin already made remarks that he did not have such discourses about tariffs with China and remained unsure if U.S. President Donald Trump had been holding such communication channels open with China's President Xi Jinping. For its own part, China waived bigger envisioned tariffs for a bilateral agreement between both countries, the next clash for 125% tariffed goods.
Again, although one knew tariff-related dialogue was not ongoing, China did confirm its intent for selective bids for its preferred American export categories or goods from the direct scope of tariffs announced.
On the corporate stage, the British take-out app delivery service Deliveroo's stock dropped 16.3% on the day after DoorDash put forward a takeover bid. Elsewhere, aerospace manufacturer Airbus added 1.6% after snagging a deal with Spirit AeroSystems. Likewise, the Italian investment bank Mediobanca made an announcement of €6.3 billion, proposing to take Banca Generali from giddy heights, opening doors for more favorable consequences for the European equity markets.
Amidst ongoing developments in the U.S.-China trade negotiations, markets were greeted with mild optimism as they searched for cautious optimism while awaiting earnings and economic data over a very busy coming week in European markets.
[Source Credit: Business Recorder]
