Leading European stock markets were propped up by good corporate news on Monday, as investors across the world are awaiting more news on the US tariffs, freshly knocked down by a US appeals court.
Monday is Labor Day in the US, so Wall Street remains closed after the weekend.
Right after midday in Europe, the London FTSE 100 was up by more than 0.2%, the DAX in Frankfurt gained 0.37%, and the CAC 40 in Paris was also rising by a modest 0.2%, following the news that France’s manufacturing sector started expanding in August, the first time since January 2023.
In Europe, overall positive investor sentiment was fuelled by corporate news, including Denmark’s Novo Nordisk. The shares of the pharmaceutical giant gained almost 3% following the news that its weight loss drug, Wegovy, cut the risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57%, compared to tirzepatide, the ingredient in its competitor Eli Lilly‘s rival drugs.
Defence stocks were also up, following the news that Norway has agreed to buy at least five new British anti-submarine ships in a deal valued at £10 billion (€11.5bn). The ships are built by a group of companies led by UK-based BAE Systems. The shares of the company were up 1.9% around midday in Europe.
“BAE Systems was a notable gainer as investors reacted positively to its role in a £10 billion deal between the UK and Norway to supply the latter with at least five new warships,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
The news boosted other companies’ shares in the sector, Babcock International Group gained more than 3%, too.
“The feel-good factor spread to other defence businesses which were pulled higher in BAE’s tailwind. This kind of deal is tangible evidence of how the increased appetite among European countries to spend on their military capabilities could benefit the likes of BAE,” Mould added.
Mixed global trade on Monday, Alibaba gains
World shares were mixed on Monday as investors watched for further developments after a US court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping higher tariffs.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday that Trump went too far when he declared national emergencies to justify imposing sharply higher import taxes on almost every country on earth.
US markets remain closed on Monday for the US Labor Day holiday. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.2%, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.5%.
Alibaba stood out by gaining more than 18.5% in Hong Kong, following the news that the Chinese tech giant posted strong results, a 78% rise in net profit year-on-year for the three months ending June.
Meanwhile, investors were watching a government survey released Saturday, which showed that China’s factory activity improved marginally in August, with the purchasing managers index, or PMI, issued by the National Statistics Bureau rising to 49.4 from 49.3 in July. The survey is on a scale of 0 to 100 where 50 marks the cut-off for expansion.
Another private sector survey called the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI showed the general PMI at 50.5 last month, up from 49.4 in July. Averaging the two surveys yields a PMI of 49.9, suggesting some resilience in the manufacturing sector despite US tariffs of over 50% on Chinese goods, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
China and the US are still negotiating over a broad trade agreement.
“The PMIs suggest that China’s economy accelerated last month, thanks to faster growth across manufacturing and services. But we don’t see much upside over the rest of the year,” Huang said.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.2%, while the Kospi in South Korea shed 1.4%.
Shares also fell in Australia, with the S&P/ASX 200 losing 0.5% to 8,924.70.
Taiwan’s benchmark lost 0.7% and India’s Sensex gained 0.7%.
In other dealings early Monday, gold gained more than 0.7% and was traded at $3,541.90 around midday in Europe. The US benchmark crude oil WTI gained 1% and traded at $64.65 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 0.9% to $68.10 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 147.07 Japanese yen from 147.02 yen. The euro rose to $1.1728 from $1.1696.
In the next two weeks, the markets could face some turbulence as investors await data about the EU inflation and US manufacturing on Tuesday. The GDP data from the European Union and US non-farm payrolls will set the tone on Friday, before next week, the fate of the French government is decided by a no-confidence vote on Monday, potentially dragging the entire budget and fiscal certainty with it in Europe’s second biggest economy.
On Thursday, the ECB is going to hold its next monetary policy meeting.