European Shares Seen Higher With Focus On Ukraine, Tariffs

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open on a firm note Monday as investors react to the latest tariff news and Europe's peace efforts in Ukraine.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that the tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect as scheduled on Tuesday, but President Donald Trump will determine their exact levels before implementation.

Lutnick also indicated that an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports remains on the table for Tuesday. China has already vowed to counter with all necessary measures.

Breaking his silence on the string of Trump's tariff announcements, legendary investor Warren Buffet has called them, "an act of war, to some degree" in an interview with CBS over the weekend.

The euro rebounded from a 2-1/2-week low against the U.S. dollar and the British pound also advanced following a European summit on defense and Ukraine.

After the collapse of a hoped-for deal between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the European Union said it is ready to work with all European partners and other allies on a peace plan to Ukraine that will ensure a just and lasting peace for Ukrainian people.

Asian markets were broadly higher after surveys showed China's manufacturing activity picked up last month.

An official factory survey showed on Saturday that China's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in three months in February. The Caixin manufacturing PMI jumped to 50.8 in February from January's 50.1.

The U.S. Labour Department's monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight this week, although reports on manufacturing and service sector activity, private sector employment and weekly jobless claims may also attract attention.

China's yuan hovered near a two-week low ahead of a meeting of China's National People's Congress beginning on March 5.

Gold edged higher in Asian trade as the dollar weakened amid expectations that Trump's tariff threats may trigger a global trade war and stoke inflation.

Oil prices also traded higher as doubts grew over a U.S.-brokered peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

U.S. stocks seesawed before ending sharply higher on Friday as signs of cooling inflation outweighed uncertainty around AI spending and geopolitical stability.

PCE inflation rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in January, meeting estimates and slowing on an annualized basis.

However, a measure of consumer spending posted the biggest monthly decline since February 2021, the goods trade deficit widened to a record high, and a model utilized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta projected an economic contraction in the first quarter of this year, signaling a slowdown in the world's largest economy.

The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both surged around 1.6 percent, while the Dow added 1.4 percent.

European stocks ended mostly higher on Friday despite increasing skepticism toward Trump's tariff threats.

The pan European STOXX 600 ended flat with a positive bias. The German DAX finished marginally higher, France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.6 percent.