STOXX 600 index rises, aided by financial stocks

The pan-European index edged up 0.2% to 618.91 points, with the banks-heavy Spain’s benchmark leading gains among regional markets

The STOXX 600 index edged higher on Monday, aided by gains in financial stocks ahead of data on industrial production, while investors geared up for latest earnings releases later this week that could offer clues into the health of corporate Europe.

The pan-European index edged up 0.2% to 618.91 points by 0844 GMT, with the banks-heavy Spain’s benchmark leading gains among regional markets.

European shares hit a volatile patch in late January and through early February on worries that newer artificial intelligence tools could squeeze profits of traditional businesses.

However, a better-than-feared earnings season in the face of steep U.S. tariffs helped the STOXX index hit a record high last week and log its third-straight week of gains.

Banks and insurance stocks had been mired in AI-disruption worries last week, with the lending index logging its biggest one-week decline since late-March 2025. On Monday, lenders bounced back with a 1.7% rise, while insurance stocks added 1%.

The real challenge is that even by the end of this year we still won’t have enough evidence to identify the structural winners and losers with confidence. That leaves plenty of room for investors’ imaginations—both optimistic and pessimistic—to run wild. As such big sentiment swings will continue to be the order of the day, a group of analysts led by Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said in a note.

No major earnings releases are expected on Monday, but those from Orange, Zealand Pharma, Airbus and BE Semiconductor are due later this week.

So far, 60% of European companies have beaten earnings expectations, compared with 54% seen in a typical quarter, according to data compiled by LSEG. Further, earnings are expected to have dropped 1.1%, versus around a 4% decline earlier in the month.