European Shares Advance As Investors Look To ECB Meeting

European stocks were sharply higher on Monday as investors cheered reports suggesting that the United States is mulling lifting some tariffs on China to fight inflation.

Investors and policymakers await the release of U.S. inflation data this week after EU inflation shocked many with a record high reading last week.

Market participants also await a European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting later this week for confirmation whether the central bank will raise rates at the July 21 policy meeting.

The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.90 percent to 444.07 after closing 0.3 percent lower on Friday.

The German DAX rallied 1 percent, France’s CAC 40 index jumped 1.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 1.4 percent.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a confidence vote later today after a growing number of lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party questioned the British leader’s flagging authority over the “partygate” scandal.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore all jumped over 3 percent as London copper prices scaled to their highest in more than one month on hopes that the United States would cut tariffs on Beijing.

Oil & gas firm BP Plc rallied 2.8 percent and Royal Dutch Shell climbed 2.2 percent as crude oil prices neared $120 a barrel after Saudi Arabia raised prices for customers in Asia.

Auto parts supplier Melrose Industries soared 4.3 percent after it agreed to sell its ergonomic business Ergotron to private-equity firm The Sterling Group for £520 million in cash.

Clontarf Energy shares plunged 69 percent after its partner Western Gas said its Sasanof-1 exploration well off Western Australia found no hydrocarbons.

Banks traded higher on expectations that they would benefit from rising interest rates. Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas gained 2-3 percent.

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