2018.05.2120:45:00UTC+00European Markets Mostly Higher as Trade War Concerns Ease; Italian Stocks Drop

French and U.K. stocks ended higher on Monday with investors monitoring weekend developments in U.S.-China trade talks.

The upbeat trading mood in stocks came after Beijing and Washington agreed to drop their tariff threats. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the U.S. administration would put the trade war with China “on hold” while the two countries work on a deal to reduce the U.S.'s trade deficit with the Chinese. Meanwhile, China agreed to buy more U.S. products, but without specifying a dollar amount.

The FTSE 100 closed provisionally up by one percent and the CAC 40 in Paris was higher by 0.4 percent. The former notched a new intraday record peak on Monday. Meanwhile, the main Italian index fell 1.5 percent on political news. German and other European markets were closed for a public holiday.

Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and League parties are seeking presidential approval for a prime minister to lead a government whose plans to raise spending have sent jitters to financial markets.

Italy's FTSE MIB benchmark index saw losses widen throughout the session as any bargain-hunting was outweighed by a number of stocks going ex-dividend, including heavyweight bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

Italian equities suffered their biggest one-week loss since early March on Friday on worries the new government could relax fiscal discipline.

In Ireland, Ryanair Holdings initially fell, but then swung higher to end 5.1 percent higher. The volatile action came after the budget airline reported a ten percent rise in full-year profit but also warned on 2019 profit due to higher oil prices and pressure on fare prices.