Live Markets: Half-time in Europe: Time is ticking

Capgemini SE

20/04/2026 12:17

Adds blog post

STOXX 600 down 1%

Traders eye MidEast developments; US seizes Iranian ship

Airlines fall

Oil and gas stocks rise

Wall St futures lower

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HALF-TIME IN EUROPE: TIME IS TICKING

 European shares remain in the red at the half-way point of the European trading day as the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran looks to be at risk after the weekend's events.

     Iran has said it wouldn't join peace talks after the U.S. seized an Iranian cargo ship that attempted to run its blockade, prompting markets to scale back some of the optimism from the last few weeks.

The STOXX 600 .STOXX is down 1.1% after a near 2% jump the week before.

Energy prices LCOc1 are rising, which is giving a lift to the oil & gas sector .SXEP but hitting airlines .T5751P and autos .SXAP. Breadth is negative, with declining shares outnumbering rising stocks by about 4 to 1.

Despite the broad hit to sentiment, S&P 500 futures EScv1 are only off about 0.5% after the index jumped 4.5% last week, so investors still seem to be in the cautiously optimistic camp.

     "Investors are effectively betting that the conflict will de-escalate, even if the path there is volatile," writes Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

     But time is ticking. The current two-week ceasefire is due to expire on Tuesday.

(Samuel Indyk)

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FOR MONDAY'S OTHER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

INSTITUTIONAL SELLING UP NEXT AS ENERGY SHOCK THREATENS EUROPEAN EARNINGS - UBS CLICK HERE

MORE VOLATILITY (AND OPPORTUNITIES) AHEAD FOR EUROPE'S SOFTWARE SECTOR CLICK HERE

AIRLINES SKID, OIL STOCKS RALLY AS TRADERS MULL MIDEAST DEVELOPMENTS CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES SLIP AS IRAN CEASEFIRE NERVES RESURFACE CLICK HERE

MARKETS LIGHT ON VOLUME AND HIGH ON HOPES CLICK HERE

Crude oil prices https://reut.rs/3PtajyU

European shares get the Monday blues https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-STOCKS/gdpzablxgvw/chart.png