Europe’s markets opened Monday without a strong reaction to the renewed attacks between Israel and Iran over the weekend.
The STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, recovering slightly after Friday’s sharp losses, as investors seemed to believe the conflict would stay contained.
Financial, travel, and energy stocks gained, balancing out weaker performance in defensive sectors like healthcare and utilities, as oil prices and bond yields increased.
In corporate news, reports that Italian executive Luca de Meo might become the new CEO of Gucci-owner Kering made waves. Kering’s shares jumped 8.3% on the news, while Renault, where de Meo has been CEO for five years, saw its shares drop over 6%.
On the Commodities front, Gold has fallen around $40 from an overnight high around the $3450/oz mark. The move could be down to some potential profit taking as market participants prep for a busy week ahead that includes a host of Central Bank meetings.
Oil prices are down around 1.35% this morning as concerns around a potential closure of the strait of Hormuz have for now been sidelined. As much as this was a topic over the weekend that garnered a lot of attention, the idea would harm Iran just as much as anyone else. Such a move may materialize should Iran feel like it is running out of options in its current spat with Israel and this could have a huge impact on oil prices.
On the FX front, The dollar stayed steady in a volatile trading session on Monday. It held at 144.29 Japanese yen after gaining nearly 0.4% earlier. The euro rose 0.25% to $1.1583.
The dollar remained unchanged against the Swiss franc at 0.812, while a key index tracking the dollar against six major currencies slipped 0.3% to 97.97. Risk-linked currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars saw small gains, while Norway’s krone, boosted by oil prices, rose 0.3% to its highest level since early 2023.
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