European stocks edged higher; BOE meeting, inflation data due this week

Investing.com - European stock markets edged higher Monday, rebounding after the previous week’s losses, as investors await a deluge of key economic data and a policy-meeting from the Bank of England this week.

At 05:20 ET (09:20 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.1% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. traded largely unchanged.

European indices bounce after weekly losses 

Investors have started the new week on a more positive note, with the  benchmark pan-European STOXX 600 index up 0.4%, coming off its worst weekly percentage fall so far this year.

European stocks came under hefty pressure last week after gains from the ring-wing parties in the European Parliament elections, culminating in French President Emmanuel Macron calling for a snap election following a trouncing of his ruling centrist party by Marine Le Pen's eurosceptic National Rally.

The French CAC-40 index fell more than 6.2% last week, marking its worst weekly loss since March 2022.

Bank of England policy meeting due

The main focus of attention this week will be Thursday’s Bank of England policy meeting to decide on its interest rates.

The central bank is not expected to change its key rates, but traders will be looking at the voting pattern for clues of future action. Last month seven members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to hold, while two voted for a cut. 

The European Central Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the start of the month, as policymakers judged inflation to have been sufficiently tamed for them to ease policy.

More inflation data is due on Tuesday, with the latest reading of the May consumer price index for the eurozone. The annual figure is expected to come in at 2.6%, an increase from 2.4% the previous month. 

Topdanmark soars on acquisition

In corporate news, Topdanmark (CSE:TOP) stock jumped 20% after Finnish insurer Sampo (HE:SAMPO), down 2.8%, agreed to buy its Danish rival in a deal that values the company at the equivalent of just under $5 billion.

UBS (SIX:UBSG) stock rose 1.6% after the Swiss banking giant announced it will set aside around $900 million to repay investors in Credit Suisse funds that were linked to collapsed supply chain financing firm Greensill Capital, accounting for 90% of what they are owed.

ING (AS:INGA) stock rose 1.8% after the Dutch lender forecast total income growth of between 4% and 5% per year during 2024-2027.

Crude rises despite downbeat Chinese data 

Crude prices edged higher Monday, with the wider positive tone overshadowing the release of Chinese economic data showing a bumpy recovery for the world’s biggest crude importer. 

By 05:20 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 0.2% higher at $78.19 per barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.1% to $82.74 per barrel.

Chinese retail sales beat forecasts, but the flurry of Chinese data released on Monday was largely downbeat.