European shares end lower as investors assess mixed earnings; focus on trade talks
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab closed 0.1% lower, as a drop in healthcare stocks such as Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab and Novonordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab offset gains in mining companies (.SXPP), opens new tab.
Traders were gearing up for a week filled with corporate updates in both Europe and the U.S. and will scrutinize company reports for any clues on the impact trade uncertainty has had on profitability and consumer demand.
On Monday, Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab said it expects a net loss of 2.3 billion euros ($2.68 billion) for the first half of 2025 as the automaker faced the dual challenge of revamping its product ranges while also dealing with the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Shares of the automaker were volatile throughout the day and settled about 1.5% higher.
Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab jumped 5.7% after Europe's largest low-cost carrier reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled. Other airline stocks such as Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), opens new tab and EasyJet (EZJ.L), opens new tab gained about 1% each.
Meanwhile, trade negotiations were high on the radar as diplomats said that the EU is exploring wide-ranging "anti-coercion" measures which would let the bloc target U.S. services or curb access to public tenders in the absence of a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened 30% duties on imports from Europe if no agreement is signed before the August 1 deadline.
"The question ultimately boils down to whether the EU can swallow an unbalanced outcome which is tilted in favour of the U.S., or whether Trump would accept some form of EU countermeasures without ratcheting up tariffs further," said Henry Cook, senior economist at MUFG bank.
"The landing ground for a deal still looks small and there is plenty of risk that things could go south."
The benchmark STOXX 600 has recovered all its losses from the April selloff when Trump slapped tariffs on world economies. However, trade ambiguities and their impact on corporates have kept investors wary.
The prevailing uncertainty had investors also flocking to safe-havens including gold and European sovereign bonds on Monday. EUR/GVD
Among stocks, Delivery Hero (DHER.DE), opens new tab logged its biggest one-day jump of over 16% in more than a year. On Friday, Prosus had offered to slash its stake in the German company and give up its board seat to address EU concerns over its 4.1 billion euro ($4.78 billion) Just Eat Takeaway (TKWY.AS), opens new tab deal, according to sources.
Miners Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab, Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab and Antofagasta (ANTO.L), opens new tab rose between 3% and 5%, tracking a rise in industrial metal prices after China vowed to stabilise its industrial growth, and on hopes for more stimulus. IRN/
Markets also await the ECB's policy decision later this week with traders pricing in no change in interest rates.
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The Guardian
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Trump tells Europe to ‘get your act together' on immigration before US-EU trade talks
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The Independent
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Montenegro tourism boost after securing 350 million euros for transport upgrade
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In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand expounds her individualist philosophy by portraying a dystopian society in which titans of industry fight back against burdensome bureaucracy. Though widely panned by critics, the book has remained a cult favourite of the libertarian Right. Paul Ryan, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, gave out copies to staff members as Christmas presents. Donald Trump, not widely known as a reader, has named Rand as his favourite author. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that an adaptation of Atlas Shrugged is among a handful of projects proposed by Founders Films, a new Right-wing production company aimed at restoring patriotism to Hollywood. The planned venture, which is being pitched to potential investors, comes amid a broader shift to the Right across the US media industry as the return of Trumpian politics triggers a war on 'woke'. 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In a post on Substack late last year, Sankar wrote nostalgically about all-American blockbusters of yesteryear including Red Dawn, Top Gun, Rocky IV, and The Hunt for Red October. He argued that the US had lost the ability to leverage its film industry as soft power and called for the resurrection of the 'American Cinematic Universe' largely, it seems, by portraying Chinese communists as baddies on screen. 'Breaking out of our cultural malaise will require the studios to wake up and choose America,' he added. Cultural warfare In many ways, it is a rekindling of cinema as cultural warfare in a way not seen since the Cold War. Alongside Atlas Shrugged, other slated projects include films about the evacuation of the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the assassination of Iran's Gen Qasem Soleimani, as well as The Greatest Game, a thriller spy series that 'lays bare China's plans to replace the United States as the dominant global power'. Sankar points to examples of Chinese-ordered censorship and the fact that Disney's Mulan was filmed in Xinjiang as evidence of Beijing's growing sway over Hollywood. 'The statement is that Hollywood's been captured by a foreign adversary and there's some good evidence there,' says Dr Dominic Lees, associate professor of film-making at Reading University. Another strain of the Founders Films philosophy is rooted in the culture wars. The new studio wants to bring an injection of unashamedly conservative thinking to an industry that has long been dominated by liberals. 'What they are taking a punt on is that there is a movie-going market for films that counter what they're calling a Left-wing agenda,' adds Lees. It builds on growing criticism of Hollywood from the Right, with criticism levelled at studios for introducing heavy-handed progressive politics into films or removing anything deemed offensive. Disney has found itself at the centre of this controversy, with critics blaming the House of Mouse's political leanings for a string of recent flops, including this year's live-action reboot of Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler. Disney itself has admitted that there might be a potential 'misalignment' between the films it is making and what consumers want after splurging almost $1bn (£740m) on a string of box office failures in 2023, while boss Bob Iger has outlined plans to cut the studio's output and refocus on quality. Meanwhile, Gina Carano, the actress who was dropped from Star Wars series The Mandalorian in 2021 over her political posts on social media, is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination and discrimination in a lawsuit backed by Elon Musk. Carano was sacked for a post on Instagram that equated the persecution of Jews by the Nazis to the persecution of Republicans in the US. Tinsel Town takeover There are already signs that conservative ideology is gaining commercial traction in Hollywood. Am I Racist?, a Borat-style mockumentary lampooning the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) movement, became the highest-grossing documentary of 2024 after pulling in more than $12m at the box office on a budget of just $3m. Reagan, a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as the former US president, grossed $30m last year despite scathing reviews from critics. The streaming era has also opened up an opportunity for what once would have been niche sub-genres to break out and find their audience. Christian cinema, for example, has made something of a resurgence at the US box office in recent years thanks to hits such as The King of Kings and The Chosen, a multi-series drama about the life of Jesus. In one week earlier this year, three of the top 10 US box office spots were faith-based titles. Tinsel Town's rightward shift is just one part of a broader assault on the US media heralded by Trump, who earlier this year appointed Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as 'special ambassadors' to Hollywood, tasked with reversing what he deems to have been a period of decline. Meanwhile, controversy is growing around an $8bn takeover of Hollywood giant Paramount by Skydance, the US media group run by David Ellison, which was approved this week. Paramount's recent decision to reach a $16m settlement with Trump for a lawsuit filed against its broadcaster CBS has been widely condemned as an effort to make concessions to the president. This disquiet was fuelled by CBS's shock decision last week to cancel The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, just days after the long-serving host branded the settlement a 'big, fat bribe'. Trump has since poured more fuel on the fire after claiming Skydance had promised to give him $20m worth of free advertising and programming in a side deal. Democrat senators have opened an investigation into potential corruption. The president's sway over the Paramount deal suggests he could exert pressure over the studio's output too. It is fuelling concerns about the threat to freedom of expression across the Atlantic. DeGroote describes Trump as 'lacerating the bit of the media universe which he doesn't like', adding: 'It's a dual pincer movement. You're going after the politicians, but you're also going after the media platforms.' Patrick Spence, the TV producer behind Mr Bates vs The Post Office and The Hack, an upcoming drama about the phone hacking scandal, says: 'It feels like we're living in a Batman movie because the villains are so cartoon-like. But the trouble is it's real. It's actually happening in front of us.' Ultimately, however, a Right-wing takeover of Hollywood will depend on making hits. Lees casts doubt on whether the gun-toting style of propaganda film-making proposed by Founders Films will be effective. 'My sense is that these guys at the moment are not very culturally sophisticated,' Lees says. 'If they want to really make an impact it's going to be how they subvert the different existing genres.'
