European Shares Gain as Trade-Talk Optimism Takes Root Again

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks advanced in early trading amid renewed optimism over trade talks after U.S. President Donald Trump extended the deadline to raise tariffs on Chinese goods beyond March 1.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.5 percent, with all sectors gaining. Sectors sensitive to trade talk news include miners, semiconductors and autos. Elsewhere, telecommunications will be in focus this week, with the Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona. In the world of drugmakers, Roche Holding AG will buy Spark Therapeutics Inc. for $4.8 billion, while French biopharmaceutical company Ipsen SA will acquire Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal valued at up to $1.3 billion.

“We should be careful about interpreting’’ Trump’s deferral of U.S.-China tariffs as positive for Europe, said Benjamin Jones, a senior multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets in London. “If a deal is done with China, Trump will start looking for another bad guy and that could be Europe.’’

That tariff move was obviously taken positively by Chinese equities, Jones said. “I’m a bit surprised by the strength of that response as I would have thought a deferral was already well priced. But it does show continued willingness to work toward a deal.’’

To contact the reporter on this story: Hanna Hoikkala in Stockholm at hhoikkala@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon

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