European Markets Close Higher

(RTTNews) - European markets ended higher on Monday, reacting positively to last week's encouraging data on U.S. jobs growth, Chinese data that showed China's factory deflation eased in July, and news about U.S. President Donald Trump signing executive orders aimed at extending coronavirus relief to Americans.

Investors were also digesting the latest batch of earnings announcements. Concerns about rising U.S.-China tensions limited markets' upside.

The pan European Stoxx 600 moved up 0.3%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.31%, France's CAC 40 ended up 0.41% and Germany's DAX edged up 0.1%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.23%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine closed higher, while Greece, Netherlands and Russia ended weak.

In the U.K. market, Carnival, IAG and TUI gained 9%, 8.4% and 7.5%, respectively. Evraz, Meggitt, EasyJet, Rolls-Royce Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, Pearson, Whitbread, Prudential and BP gained 2.5 to 6%.

On the other hand, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hikma Pharmaceutical, The Sage Group, Intertek Group and Scottish Mortgage lost 2 to 4%.

In the German market, Lufthansa surged up nearly 6.5%. Thyssenkrupp gained 5.7% and Deutsche Bank moved up 3.6%. Continental, HeidelbergCement, Adidas and BASF gained 1.5 to 2.5%.

Wirecard declined more than 4.5%. Infineon Technologies and SAP lost 2.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

In France, Renault rallied 5.8%, ArcelorMittal climbed nearly 5%, Technip, Accor and Unibail Rodamco gained 4.3 5o 5%, while Airbus Group ended higher by about 4%. Societe Generale, Publicis Groupe, Peugeot, Vinci and Bouygues gained 2 to 3%.

Worldline, Hermes International, STMicroElectronics and Dassault Systemes ended notably lower.

In economic news from Europe, euro area investor confidence rose for a fourth straight month in August to its highest level since February this year, as the assessment of the current economic situation improved and expectations were remained positive, survey data from Sentix showed.

The investor confidence index rose to -13.4 from -18.2 in July. Economists had forecast a score of -15.1.

The current situation index of the survey climbed to -41.3 from -49.5 in the previous month. The latest reading was the highest since March.

Switzerland's unemployment rate remained unchanged in July, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed.

The jobless rate came in at seasonally adjusted 3.3% in July, unchanged from June. Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 3.6%. On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate held steady at 3.2% in July. The expected rate was 3.4%.

The unemployment rate among youth aged between 15 and 24 advanced to 3.4% from 3.3% in June.

In the U.S., Democrat leaders criticized the new virus relief package that President Trump announced on Saturday after talks between Republican lawmakers and their Democrat counterparts stalled.

Trump signed four executive actions to help boost the U.S. economy, which was battered by the pandemic. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi termed it as "absurdly unconstitutional," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told ABC that Trump's unilateral measures were "unworkable, weak and far too narrow."

"The Democrats were unwilling to do anything. It was time to act. We have to get money out to the people," Trump told reporters on his way back to Washington.

Amid mounting tensions between Washington and Beijing, U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar offered President Donald Trump's strong support for democratic Taiwan.

China said it will impose sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens in response to similar measures from Washington on Chinese and Hong Kong officials.