European Stocks Close Lower After Cautious Session

European stocks closed lower on Monday with investors largely making cautious moves, reacting to data showing a contraction in Germany’s economy, and evaluating the likely monetary policy outlook of the central banks.

The volumes were somewhat thin amid a lack of news from the U.S., where markets remained closed today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.54%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.39%, Germany’s DAX drifted down 0.49% and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.72%, while Switzerland’s SMI declined 0.17%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended weak.

Austria and Turkiye closed higher, while Czech Republic, Greece and Russia ended flat.

In the UK market, Burberry Group ended nearly 5% down, and Ocado Group lost about 4.6%. B&M European Value Retail, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC Holdings declined 2.3 to 2.6%.

Experian, Frasers Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Halma, St. James’s Place, Kingfisher and Standard Chartered also declined sharply.

Flutter Entertainment climbed 2.75%. Admiral Group, Beazley, Tesco, Aviva and Coca-Cola HBC gained 0.8 to 1.3%.

In Germany, Fresenius ended down 3.4%. Porsche, Zalando, Beiersdorf, Siemens Energy, Sartorius, Bayer, RWE, Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens Healthineers, BMW, Infineon and Deutsche Bank lost 1 to 3%.

Commerzbank moved higher as talks of a merger with Deutsche Bank resurfaced. Munich RE, Continental, Deutsche Telekom and MTU Aero Engines posted moderate gains.

Kontron gained about 2.5%. The IoT technology company said that it sees its net profit grow over 87 million euros in 2024.

In the French market, L’Oreal and Essilor lost about 4.6% and 4.1%, respectively. Teleperformance, WorldLine, Thales, Stellantis, Schneider Electric, Kering and Sanofi ended lower by 1.3 to 2.7%.

Orange climbed nearly 2.5%. Unibail Rodamco, Capgemini, Danone, Credit Agricole, Carrefour, Edenred and BNP Paribas gained 0.7 to 1.4%.

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