Stocks rise ahead of packed week of earnings, data

by Anand Krishnamoorthy and Kit Rees

European stocks gained as traders readied for a week packed with major earnings and economic data, with investors watching for signs of progress in trade negotiations.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.5%, boosted by M&A news out of Italy as Mediobanca made a €6.3 billion ($7.1 billion) offer for the wealth management arm of Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA. Contracts for the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% following a four-day rally in US equities, the longest winning streak since January. A gauge of Asian equities advanced 0.6%. 

Gold dropped as much as 1.6% as traders unwound positions on signs the metal’s advance may have run too far and too fast. Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasuries climbed two basis points, while the dollar ticked higher.

Wild market moves stirred by President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff announcements have eased somewhat, but investors will be scrutinizing this week’s key company reports for the earnings impact of US trade policies. Fresh readings on the state of the American economy may support hopes of earlier-than-expected Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. 

“US investors are hanging on every word from the administration as they look for clues as to what direction the market will break in,” said Michael Field, a strategist at Morningstar. “This has lead to some large daily moves, which in the last week has largely been around positive/negative comments by Trump regarding the Federal Reserve. European markets are largely following the same pattern.”

Four of the so-called Magnificent Seven — Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. — are due to report earnings this week. Analysts expect the group — which also includes Google-parent Alphabet Inc., Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp. — to deliver an average of 15% profit growth in 2025, a forecast that’s barely budged since the start of March despite the flareup in trade tensions.

Investors are watching for any signs of progress in US trade negotiations after Trump suggested another delay to his higher tariffs was unlikely. Asian economies, facing some of the highest US “reciprocal” tariffs, are leading the way over their western counterparts in trade negotiations with the administration.

To help manage the next steps, the Trump team has drafted a framework to handle negotiations with about 18 countries, including a template that lays out common areas of concern to guide the discussions.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is working on bilateral trade deals with 17 key partners, not including China. Bessent reiterated the administration’s argument that Beijing will be forced to the negotiating table because China can’t sustain Trump’s latest tariff level of 145% on Chinese goods.

The “market is getting more sanguine in recent weeks, but I’m more inclined to stay defensive,” said Xin-Yao Ng, a fund manager at Aberdeen Investments in Singapore. “The environment will remain highly uncertain and volatile throughout the year, with constant tension around tariffs and geopolitics.”

Some of the main moves in markets: 

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5% as of 8:25 a.m. London time
• S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%
• Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.1%
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6%
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.4%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
• The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1347
• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 143.82 per dollar
• The offshore yuan fell 0.2% to 7.3001 per dollar
• The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3301

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $94,682.26
• Ether rose 0.2% to $1,806.84

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.26%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.50%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.49%

Commodities

• Brent crude was little changed
• Spot gold fell 1.2% to $3,280.85 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.