LONDON — European stocks closed lower on Monday as investors assessed recent violations of the increasingly fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran and the possibility of a British takeover bid. easyjet.
pan-european Stocks 600 The stock closed the first session of the new month down about 1%. Most sectors closed in negative territory, with major bourses in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Milan all falling.
The decline comes as hopes for a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran appear to have faded.
On Monday afternoon, Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency reported that Iran’s negotiating team had “ceased exchanging messages” with the United States through an intermediary following Israel’s recent advance into Lebanon. He added that Iran would “completely” close the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices rose more than 6% on Monday. The foreign ministers of Britain and Germany also joined France in condemning Israel’s new invasion of Lebanon.
“Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon is killing and displacing civilians, destroying infrastructure and eroding diplomatic space,” British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote in Sunday’s X, adding: “This must end.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to “expand operations” in Lebanon, despite a ceasefire declared in April.
President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday morning that Iran “really wants a deal” and slammed “Democrats and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans” for “an unprecedented level of negative ‘complaining’.”
“Just sit back and relax, everything will work out in the end, it always does!” he added.
Elsewhere, Europe’s tech index followed Japan’s index, bucking the broader negative trend in the market. Softbank Group It has pledged to invest 45 billion euros ($53 billion) in France over the next five years to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. The investment is part of SoftBank’s broader plans for France worth 75 billion euros.
The STOXX European tech index ended 1.4% higher, reaching its highest level since September 2020.
low cost airlines easyjet on Monday responded to speculation that a takeover offer from U.S. investment firm Castle Lake was imminent, saying it had not received such an approach but would consider any such offer.
EasyJet shares closed 10% higher. The group said the timing of Castle Lake’s takeover bid was “highly opportunistic”, with the company’s share price down more than 40% over the past five years.
South Korean stocks continued their tech-fueled rally unabated, bouncing off mixed performance across Asia-Pacific stock markets and hitting new highs overnight.
Korean Kospi shares rose, closing 3.7% higher. samsung electronics It rose more than 10% and hit a new all-time high.
In the US market, Dow Jones Industrial Average Last time it was down 0.2%, but S&P500 It was last up 0.1% in midday trading. Nasdaq It rose by about 0.3%.
