European shares flat as defensives limit commodities slump (updated)

Pandora A/S

02/02/2026 10:30

STOXX 600 up 1%

Commodity market losses initially weigh on risk appetite

Capgemini gains after announcing US subsidiary sale

Updates at market close

By Avinash  P, Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur

Feb 2 (Reuters) - The STOXX 600 index climbed to a record on Monday, propelled by strong gains in financial and healthcare stocks as investors looked past commodity market turbulence at the start of a week packed with corporate earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX finished 1% higher,  recovering from a weaker opening as the session progressed.

After opening lower, European markets gradually recovered throughout the session as an earlier selloff in precious metals began to ease. The downturn in gold and silver had initially forced investors to liquidate other positions to cover losses, weighing on broader risk appetite. But as the metals sell-off stabilised, most sub-indexes turned positive.

"Markets shrugged off some of the commodity selling and Europe came in with a much more positive tone," said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

"The rally was partly due to calendar effects - it's typical to see fresh capital enter markets on the first day of a new month."

BANKING STOCKS LEAD GAINS

The euro STOXX volatility index .V2TX also fell about 3 points.

Banking stocks .SX7E led the gains with a 2% rise, trading at their highest level since 2008.

Meanwhile, the healthcare sector .SXDP advanced 1.3%, with AstraZeneca AZN.L up 3.2% after the pharmaceutical giant completed its move to the New York Stock Exchange from the Nasdaq listing.

Basic resources .SXPP were leading sectoral declines with a drop of as much as 2%, before turning positive to close with 0.8% gains.

Gold and silver extended their losses, after increased CME margin requirements added to the selling pressure following last week's sell-off sparked by Kevin Warsh's nomination as the incoming Federal Reserve chair. Investors see Warsh as more hawkish, boosting the dollar and so reducing the metals' allure for holders of other currencies.

Shares in Danish jewellery maker Pandora PNDORA.CO rose 9.2% to top the benchmark index, driven higher by the slump in silver prices.

On the downside, the aerospace and defence sub-index .SXPARO was down 0.4%.

The STOXX 600 had a strong start to 2026 and has added 4.2% so far this year, outperforming the U.S. benchmark S&P 500's .SPX roughly 2% gain. Much of Europe's outperformance has been underpinned by rallying commodity and defence stocks, and also assisted by a few positive corporate earnings updates.

Earnings season is entering full-swing, with around 30% of STOXX 600 constituents set to report earnings this week.

Among other important movers, BFF BFF.MI plunged 45% after the Italian bank announced its CEO was stepping down and cut 2026 financial targets.

French IT company Capgemini  gained 2.4% after saying it would sell its U.S. subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions.

 (Reporting by Avinash P, Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Alex Richardson)

 ((Avinash.P@thomsonreuters.com;))