European Stocks Fell, Let’s Find Out What Happened

European stocks suffered serious losses on the first day of the week. Stocks declined to a one-month low and commodity prices dropped on Monday on renewed concerns about rising interest rates and China’s sputtering economy, while Wall Street rose, reversing losses after Twitter agreed to be bought by the world’s wealthiest person.

Fears regarding China’s Covid-19 outbreaks frightened investors already worried that higher U.S. interest rates could dent economic growth. On Monday, U.S. stocks were lower throughout most of the session, extending last week’s sharp declines. The CBOE Volatility index known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, declined to its lowest point since mid-March.

Europe’s STOXX 600 index fell 1.8% to close at its lowest since mid-March. Commodity stocks plunged 6%, as global worries eclipsed relief from French presidential results on Sunday. The country will hold parliamentary elections in June, and Emmanuel Macron also seems likely to maintain pressure for a Europe-wide ban on Russian oil and gas imports, which would cause near-term economic pain. 

In Europe, 134 of the STOXX 600 will put out reports, including banks UBS, HSBC, as well as Santander on Tuesday. 

U.S. stocks on Monday

U.S. stocks rose on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 238.06 points or 0.7% to 34,049.46. It is worth noting that the index was down as much as 488 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 4,296.12. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% at 13,004.85. 

Concerns about a global economic slowdown amid Covid outbreaks in the world’s second-largest economy sent interest rates lower. 

Tech shares rebounded as interest rates fell, providing support to the major averages. Microsoft gained 2.4%, the second-biggest gainer on the Dow. Another tech giant Alphabet also rose on Monday. Google’s parent company added nearly 2.9% and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, gained about 1.6% ahead of quarterly earnings reports slated for later this week.

Twitter added roughly 5.7% after the company announced it accepted billionaire Elon Musk’s buyout deal valued at about $44 billion.