By Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) -European shares nudged higher on Tuesday as investors assessed a spate of corporate earnings, monitored potential tariff moves and awaited key economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.2%, as of 0826 GMT, helped by gains in banking stocks.
Shares of HSBC rose 2.5% after the London-based lender launched a $3 billion share buyback, while Deutsche Bank advanced 2.7% after Germany’s largest lender posted a 39% rise in first-quarter profit.
“The earnings are really good because they basically are the earnings for the first quarter, which is mostly without the tariffs… it all depends on the outlook, which is really uncertain. So there’s a lot of hope embedded that there will be a better solution and trade deals will be found,” said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will move to reduce the impact of the new automotive tariffs by alleviating some duties imposed on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars, and keeping tariffs on cars made abroad from piling on top of other ones, officials said.
Markets have stabilized somewhat in recent weeks on optimism over potential deals between the U.S. and its trading partners, especially China. However, a lack of clarity on Sino-U.S. negotiations has put the market on edge.
The European benchmark index was on track for a second consecutive monthly drop.
European Central Bank board member Piero Cipollone warned a global trade war could have an “unambiguously recessionary effect” on the countries involved.
Other regional indexes -France, Spain, and the UK fell between 0.1% and 0.7%, while Germany was up 0.5%.
Capgemini rose 7.4% after the French IT consulting firm posted higher first-quarter revenue.
Some heavyweight UK stocks were in a weak spot.
BP shares fell 3.5% after the oil giant reported first-quarter profit that missed expectations.
AstraZeneca fell 4.4% and weighed on London’s FTSE index after the drugmaker missed analysts’ estimates for first-quarter revenue and said it may face a fine of up to $8 million in China over suspected unpaid import taxes.
Porsche fell 4.9% after the German luxury sports car maker slashed a series of forecasts for 2025.
Investors will also analyse important economic data, including the euro zone consumer confidence report due later in the day, while key inflation reports from the euro zone and the United States are also expected this week.
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shinjini Ganguli)
