European Stocks Subdued With Focus on Geopolitics; Novo Rises
European stocks traded steady as investors awaited a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart. Novo Nordisk A/S advanced on another US approval for its weight-loss drug.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed at 8:12 a.m. in London. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk gained as much as 5% after its blockbuster Wegovy received Food and Drug Administration approval to treat a serious form of liver disease. Utilities and healthcare sectors outperformed, while banks and miners were the biggest laggards.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies arrive in Washington on Monday anxious to find out what Trump committed to at his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and apprehensive that he’ll force Kyiv into making unpalatable concessions in a potential ceasefire.
European stocks have been range-bound after recovering from the tariff selloff in mid-May as investors worried about the outlook for economic growth and geopolitics. The benchmark remains about 2% below a March record high.
Attention later this week will be on the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole economic symposium for clues on the rates outlook.
Panmure Liberum strategist Joachim Klement said he expects any pullback in the market to remain short-lived as economic growth continues to improve. “Markets will remain bullish as long as there is a hope for a Ukraine ceasefire and economic data from the US remains resilient,” Klement added.
In other individual moves, U-blox Holding AG jumped 24% as Advent International offered to buy the Swiss maker of positioning chips in a deal valued at about 1.05 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion).
Source: Bloomberg
