STOXX 600 hits record high

The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 1% higher, recovering from a weaker opening

The STOXX 600 index jumped to a record on Monday, propelled by strong gains in financial and healthcare stocks as investors looked past commodity market turbulence at the start of a week packed with corporate earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 1% higher, recovering from a weaker opening as the session progressed.

After opening lower, European markets gradually recovered throughout the session as an earlier selloff in precious metals began to ease. The downturn in gold and silver had initially forced investors to liquidate other positions to cover losses, weighing on broader risk appetite. But as the metals sell-off stabilised, most sub-indexes turned positive.

Markets shrugged off some of the commodity selling and Europe came in with a much more positive tone, said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

The rally was partly due to calendar effects – it’s typical to see fresh capital enter markets on the first day of a new month, he said.

The euro STOXX volatility index also dropped nearly 3 points.

Banking stocks led the gains with a 2% rise, trading at their highest level since 2008.

Meanwhile, the healthcare sector rose 1.3%, with AstraZeneca up 3.2%.

Basic resources were leading sectoral declines with a decline of 2%, before turning positive to close with 0.8% gains.

Gold and silver extended their losses, after increased CME margin requirements added to the selling pressure following last week’s sell-off.

Shares in Danish jewellery maker Pandora gained 9.2% to top the benchmark index, driven higher by the slump in silver prices.

On the downside, the aerospace and defence sub-index was down 0.4%.

The STOXX 600 had a strong start to 2026 and has gained 4.2% so far this year. Much of Europe’s outperformance has been underpinned by rallying commodity and defence stocks, and also assisted by a few positive corporate earnings updates.