European Stocks Close Higher After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Monday, with a few markets posting fresh record highs, reacting positively to reports that the Trump administration will hold off on imposing trade tariffs for now.

Investors also focused on the World Economic Forum, which kicked off in Davos, Switzerland, today.

According to reports, Donald Trump will direct federal agencies to assess trade relations with China and neighboring countries but will hold off on imposing new tariffs on his first day in office.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.05%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.18%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.42% and France's CAC 40 closed up 0.31%, while Switzerland's SMI settled higher by 0.39%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed higher.

Denmark, Norway and Russia ended weak, while Finland and Sweden closed flat.

In the UK market, Fresnillo, Anglo American Plc, Spirax Group, Melrose Industries, Experian, Kingfisher and Mondi gained 2 to 3%.

Glencore, IMI, Pershing Square Holdings, IAG, Taylor Wimpey, Intertek Group, Games Workshop, Centrica, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Marks & Spencer, RightMove and Informa closed higher by 1 to 1.85%.

Rentokil Initial and Hiscox both closed lower by about 2.2%. Beazley, Pearson, LondonMetric Property, AstraZeneca, Auto Trader Group, JD Sports Fashion, Admiral Group and BP lost 1 to 1.5%.

In the German market, BMW rallied 3.2%. Daimler Truck Holding, Mercedes-Benz, Commerzbank, BASF, Deutsche Post and Sartorius gained 2 to 3%.

Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Porsche, Bayer, Adidas and Continental also ended notably higher.

Siemens Energy closed down by about 3.2% after UBS downgraded the stock to "sell." Zalando ended 1.7% down, and Fresenius Medical Care settled lower by about 1.1%.

In the French market, Stellantis, Societe Generale, Kering, Legrand, ArcelorMittal, Eurofins Scientific, Airbus Group, Credit Agricole, Vivendi, Carrefour, Saint-Gobain, BNP Paribas, Teleperformance and Publicis Groupe closed higher by 1 to 2.3%.

Engie closed nearly 2% down. L'Oreal, Renault, LVMH, TotalEnergies and Unibail Rodamco also closed weak.

On the economic front, data from Destatis showed Germany's producer prices grew at a faster pace in December, registering an annual growth of 0.8%, after recording a 0.1% increase in November.

The annual growth in PPI largely reflects the 1.8% increase in capital goods prices. Consumer goods, durable goods and intermediate goods were also more expensive than in the same month last year, while energy was cheaper.

On a monthly basis, producer prices edged down 0.1%, reversing a 0.5% rise in November, the data showed. Prices were forecast to climb 0.3% in December.

On average, producer prices for 2024 were 1.8% lower than in the previous year. This was in contrast to the 0.2 % rise in 2023.

A report from Eurostat said Eurozone construction production grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years in November, rising 1.2% monthly after a 0.8% rebound in October. On a yearly basis, industrial production rose 1.4% in November, following a flat change in October.

UK house prices increased the most since 2020 and new sellers coming to the market hit a record in January, data from the property website Rightmove showed. Average house prices increased 1.7% in January from a month ago, marking the largest jump in prices at the start of the year since 2020. This follows a 1.7% fall in December.

Switzerland's producer and import prices continued to decline in December, though at the slowest pace in fourteen months. Producer and import prices dropped 0.9% year-on-year in December, following a 1.5% decline in November.On a monthly basis, producer and import prices remained 0.1% in December versus a 0.6% decline in November.