BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks closed on a buoyant note on Monday with investors reacting to a temporary tariff exemption by the U.S. on tech products.
However, there is still some uncertainty about U.S. President Donald Trump's moves, as commerce secretary Howard Lutnick later clarified that these exemptions are not permanent. Trump later said on Truth Social that they are still subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl tariffs, but just moving to another bracket.
The announcement by the US Customs and Border Protection over the weekend that new exemptions from tariffs on various tech products, including smartphones, laptops, and other electronics means that selected electronic items will be excluded from the current 145% tariffs on China, as well as the 10% baseline tariffs.
The U.S. President has said that he would announce the tariff rate on imported semiconductors within the next week.
Buying was broad-based and stocks from technology, financials, resources and luxury sectors turned in a fine performance.
The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 2.1%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.87%, Germany's DAX closed up 2.27% and France's CAC 40 jumped 1.99%, while Switzerland's SMI settled 2.31% up.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.
Russia missed out on the rally and closed modestly lower.
In the UK market, Melrose Industries, St. James's Place, Standard Chartered, Barclays, Convatec Group, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury (J), Hiscox, HSBC Holdings, Airtel Africa, EasyJet, Prudential, M&G, Kingfisher and Vodafone Group gained 3.5 to 5.5%.
In the German market, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Bank, Fresenius Medical Care, Rheinmetall, Zalando, Deutsche Post, Sartorius, Bayer, Daimler Truck Holding, Munich RE, BMW, Infineon, Adidas, Brenntag, BASF, Hannover Rueck, Heidelberg Materials and Allianz gained 3 to 6%.
In Paris, Eurofins Scientific, BNP Paribas, Saint Gobain, Edenred, Schneider Electric, Societe Generale, Airbus, Pernod Ricard, Capgemini and Thales climbed 3 to 6%.
TotalEnergies, ArcelorMittal, AXA, Vivendi, Publicis Groupe, Unibail Rodamco, Renault, STMicroElectronics, Hermes International, Legrand, Dassault Systemes, Credit Agricole, Safron, Vinci and Carrefour also moved up sharply.
In economic news, UK house prices rose to a new record in April despite the end of stamp duty holiday in March, property website Rightmove said.
House prices increased 1.4% from the previous month to a record GBP 377,182 in April.
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