European Shares Seen Opening Up On US-EU Trade Deal

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open on a buoyant note Monday after the United States announced the "biggest-ever" trade deal with the European Union, under which a 15-percent tariff would apply across the board, including for Europe's crucial automobile sector, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the 27-nation EU bloc had agreed to purchase "$750 billion worth of energy" from the United States, as well as make $600 billion in additional investments as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators are due to meet in Stockholm later today, with reports suggesting that the world's two biggest economies could agree a 90-day extension to their trade war truce.

Elsewhere, key differences have emerged between Trump's statements and Japan's official version of their bilateral agreement.

The White House has published a fact sheet but further details of the implementation of the U.S.-Japan deal remain unclear.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday ruled out a possible deadline extension to countries wishing to negotiate trade deals.

"So no extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go," Lutnick told "Fox News Sunday".

U.S. stock futures inched higher ahead of a hectic week for markets, with the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision and earnings from several major tech companies awaited.

The Fed's two-day policy meeting concludes on Wednesday, with no change in interest rates expected. Investors are looking for clarity on whether there will be a rate cut at September policy meeting.

More than 150 companies in the S&P 500 will unveil their quarterly earnings results this week, including "Magnificent Seven" names Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday.

On the data front, reports on ADP, PCE, Q2 GDP & NFP will be in the spotlight this week.

Asian markets were mostly higher, with Japan bucking the uptrend ahead of the Bank of Japan's rate decision on Thursday.

Gold edged up in choppy trading as the dollar weakened on improved risk appetite. Oil prices climbed as concerns about a potentially painful trade war eased.

U.S. stocks rose Friday on the back of strong earnings, hopes for more U.S. trade deals and easing Fed independence fears.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.4 percent to reach new record closing highs while the narrower Dow gained half a percent.

European stocks closed mostly lower on Friday after U.S. President Trump said there was only a "50-50 chance" of making a trade deal with the EU ahead of his self-imposed deadline of August 1.

The pan European STOXX 600 slipped 0.3 percent. The German DAX dipped 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE shed 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 rose 0.2 percent.