By Shashwat Chauhan and Amir Orusov
(Reuters) -European shares gained on Monday with UK-listed healthcare stocks among the top boosts followed by technology stocks, though concerns lingered of a possible U.S. government shutdown that could delay the release of key economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.3% to 556.3 points by 0830 GMT, coming off a flat finish the previous week.
UK-listed healthcare stocks were some of the top gainers, with GSK up 2.9% after the drugmaker said Emma Walmsley will step down as CEO and will be replaced by insider Luke Miels in January.
AstraZeneca added nearly 1% after the drugmaker said it would remain listed and headquartered in London, and would now directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange instead of the current depository shares.
European miners climbed 1.2%, tracking higher metal prices, with gold at a record high and copper prices in London also gaining.
Technology stocks gained 0.9%, with chipmakers ASMI, ASML and BE Semiconductor up over 1% each.
On the downside, euro zone banks shed 0.7% as Germany’s Commerzbank lost 2.7% and Italy’s BPER Banca shed 1.9%.
WHAT IF THE US GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN?
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with top Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress on Monday to discuss extending government funding. Without a deal, a shutdown would begin on Wednesday.
A shutdown could affect financial markets by limiting the operations of financial regulators and delaying the publication of key economic data. A September jobs report is due later this week.
“If federal agencies are shut down for an extended period, the Fed could be unaware of the current state of the U.S. economy by the time it makes its next decision at the end of October,” analysts at Metzler Capital Markets said in a note.
European stocks had cheered the Fed’s first interest rate cut of 2025 earlier this month, but still remain more than 1% away from their all time highs, falling behind Wall Street.
The STOXX 600 was last up 9.5% so far this year, compared to a near 13% rise in the U.S. S&P 500 as unrelenting AI optimism has propelled U.S. stocks higher.
On Monday, Denmark’s Genmab dropped 3% after the company said it has agreed to acquire biotech firm Merus NV for $8 billion.
Novo Nordisk slipped 1.8%, on course for its seventh straight day of losses after Morgan Stanley cut its rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight”.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Amir Orusov in Gdansk; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
