European Shares Gain Ahead Of Busy Week

(RTTNews) - European stocks were broadly higher on Monday ahead of a busy week for earnings and economic releases.

The Eurozone will reveal preliminary flash GDP, consumer confidence and economic sentiment data on Wednesday, with investors looking for clues on how aggressively the European Central Bank will cut interest rates going forward.

Euro zone yields climbed, and the British pound was seeing a sideways movement ahead of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's new government's first budget to be unveiled on Wednesday and the release of the widely watched monthly U.S. jobs report due on Friday.

In the run-up to the U.K. Budget, a survey showed business confidence in the U.K. dropped to a four-month low in October.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.4 percent at 520.64 after ending flat with a negative bias on Friday.

The German DAX added half a percent, France's CAC 40 climbed 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent.

Energy stocks traded lower, with BP Plc falling 1.7 percent and peer Shell losing more than 2 percent in London as crude prices plunged to four-week lows amid easing fears of a Middle East war.

Investors heaved a sigh of relief as Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend avoided the OPEC member's oil facilities.

Philips shares plunged 16 percent after the Dutch medical devices maker cut its annual sales outlook, citing deteriorating demand from consumers and hospitals in China.

Telecommunications company KPN fell nearly 2 percent despite reiterating its full-year 2024 outlook.

Eurofins Scientific SE gained 1.7 percent in Paris. The company, which is focused on bio-analytical testing said that it has inked a deal with Synlab to acquire its clinical diagnostics operations in Spain for an undisclosed amount.