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Stocks in Europe opened higher at the start of the week, after US President Donald Trump on Sunday described his deal with the EU as the ‘biggest-ever’. Eyes now turn to talks between the US and China and what could be in store for other nations as the August 1 tariff deadline looms. The FTSE 100 index traded up 23.46 points, 0.3%, at 9,143.77, after hitting a record high of 9,169.01 shortly after the opening bell. The FTSE 250 was up 111.07 points, 0.5%, at 22,229.05, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.95 points, 0.4%, at 779.59. The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 913.72, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.5% higher at 19,505.78, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.5% at 17,809.58. In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.0%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt added 0.8%. Sterling faded to $1.3425 early Monday, from $1.3437 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The euro fell to $1.1704 from $1.1737. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JP¥148.04 from JP¥147.69. The US and EU clinched a trade agreement on Sunday that will see EU exports taxed at 15%, in a bid to resolve a transatlantic tariff stand-off that threatened to explode into a full-blown trade war. US President Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf resort in Scotland, describing the deal as the ‘biggest-ever’. The deal, which the leaders struck in around an hour, came as the clock ticked down on an August 1 deadline to avoid an across-the-board US levy of 30% on European goods. ‘We’ve reached a deal. It’s a good deal for everybody. This is probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity,’ said Trump. Trump said a baseline tariff of 15% would apply across the board, including for Europe’s crucial automobile sector, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. As part of the deal, Trump said the 27-nation EU bloc had agreed to purchase ‘$750 billion worth of energy’ from the US, as well as make $600 billion in additional investments. ING analysts commented: ‘The deal is better than the 30-50% tariff rates threatened over the last couple of months, although it is probably as bad as the universal tariff rates being discussed late last year. We still do not know what is going to happen to the pharmaceutical sector, where the results of a trade investigation may well be released later this week. In terms of big trade deals yet to be secured, the market will still be on the lookout for deals with Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, India) and perhaps anything new for Mexico and Canada, too.’ Trading higher amid the tariff relief, carmakers Stellantis and Volkswagen rose 2.8% and 2.6%. ING analysts continued: ‘Whether this remains the final deal remains to be seen, but taken at face value, European corporates can now progress with some planning. This comes at a time when eurozone fundamentals are not that bad high saving rates, lower inventories and the prospect of some powerful fiscal expansion.’ Top economic officials from the US and China are set to renew negotiations Monday with an extension of lower tariff levels on the cards as President Trump’s trade policy enters a critical week. Talks between the world’s top two economies are slated to happen over two days in the Swedish capital Stockholm, and they come as other countries are also rushing to finalise deals with Washington. For dozens of trading partners, failing to strike an agreement in the coming days means they could face significant tariff hikes on exports to the US come Friday, August 1. The steeper rates, threatened against partners like Brazil and India, would raise the duties their products face from a ‘baseline’ of 10% now to levels up to 50%. Gold rose to $3,337.19 an ounce early Monday, from $3,329.51 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. Brent faded to $67.84 a barrel from $68.66. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury narrowed to 4.38% from 4.42%. The yield on the 30-year slimmed to 4.92% from 4.96%. In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.2% higher. In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 1.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong added 0.7% in late trade. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed 0.4% higher. In London, GSK rose 1.4%. It said it has teamed up with China’s Hengrui Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to $12 billion to develop 12 medicines. The London-based drug maker said the deal will add ‘significant new growth opportunities to the company beyond 2031’. The treatments will complement GSK’s respiratory, immunology & inflammation and oncology pipeline, the firm said. The agreement includes an exclusive worldwide licence, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, for a ‘potential best-in-class’ PDE3/4 inhibitor, which is in clinical development for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as an ‘add-on maintenance treatment, irrespective of background therapy’. The drug is called HRS-9821. GSK will pay $500 million in upfront fees across the agreements. The total value of success-based development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments to Hengrui Pharma is around $12 billion, if all programmes are optioned and all milestones achieved. Drax rose 1.2% after Citigroup lifted the electricity generator to ’neutral’ from ’sell’. Elsewhere in London, STV plunged 22%. It warned of annual earnings below expectations, as the television broadcaster and content producer grapples with a ‘deterioration in the commissioning and advertising markets’. STV expects to report revenue for 2025 between £165 million and £180 million, down from £188.0 million in 2024. STV said the commissioning and advertising markets suffered further towards the end of the first half of the year and into the second. ‘Our expectations for full year revenue and adjusted operating profit are expected to be materially below consensus,’ it cautioned. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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