The main European stock markets open Monday’s session with the German Dax rising 0.97% to 24,467 points, the French CAC 40 gaining 1.22% to 7,930 points, the London FTSE 100 up 0.47% to 9,163 points, the FTSE MIB advancing 0.87% to 41,079 points, while the EURO STOXX 50 rising 1.22% to 5,417 points. The IBEX 35, meanwhile, rising 1.03% to 14,384.10 points.
This week will be marked by the trade agreement signed yesterday in Scotland between the European Union and the United States, “a trade agreement that, although it avoids the worst-case scenario of a trade war between the two parties, is “painful” for the community bloc, since it accepts 15% tariffs on all its exports to the US, except for steel and aluminum, which will continue to bear 50% tariffs on their US imports,” explains Iñigo Isardo Rey of Link Securities.
He adds that Donald Trump has also announced that the EU is committed to purchasing $750 billion in US energy (over three years, at a rate of $250 billion annually), hundreds of billions in US defense equipment, and an additional $600 billion in new investments, bringing the total to at least $1.35 trillion, while US products will face no tariffs on their exports to Europe.
Europe thus avoids the 30% tariff Trump threatened to impose on EU imports starting August 1, and the EU notes that the agreement “means maintaining the current situation that has existed since a truce in negotiations was reached at the beginning of April.”
At the close on Friday, the Euro Stoxx 50 closed down 0.10%, the DAX fell 0.43%, while the Parisian CAC rose 0.21%. London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.21%.
In the corporate arena, French insurer AXA has won a London court judgment of nearly £675 million against Banco Santander for the missale of payment protection insurance more than two decades ago.
The dispute between AXA and Santander centered on payment protection insurance (PPI) policies sold before 2005 by GE Capital Bank, formerly part of General Electric Co.’s GE Capital, which was acquired by Santander in 2009.
AXA filed a lawsuit in London’s High Court in 2021 claiming losses related to more than 650,000 individual customer claims over PPI policies, one of the UK’s most expensive retail financial scandals, in which banks paid out an estimated £40 billion in compensation.
Today’s macroeconomic agenda is relatively uneven, with China releasing its June trade balance and the US publishing the Dallas Fed’s July manufacturing business index.
The major Asian indices are moving higher on Monday, except for the Japanese Nikkei, which fell 1.05% to 41,020 points.
In China, the CSI 300 rose 0.18%, while the Shanghai SSEC gained 0.08%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.55%. Meanwhile, the South Korean Kospi gained 0.42%.
Wall Street is looking higher after closing Friday with the S&P and Nasdaq reaching record highs. The S&P 500 gained 0.40% to 6,388.64, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to 21,108.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47% to 44,901.92.
In the commodities market, oil prices are rising after the United States finalized a trade deal with the European Union and may extend the tariff pause with China, easing concerns that higher tariffs could have hurt economic activity and limited fuel demand.
Brent crude futures rose 0.75% to $68.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude stood at $65.70 a barrel, up 0.8%.
The euro-dollar fell 0.2% early this morning, reaching an exchange rate of 1.1717 dollars per currency.
Source: Yahoo! Finanzas
