European Stocks Cautiously Higher

2026-05-19 07:32 By Joana Taborda 1 min. read

The STOXX 50 rose 0.1% and the STOXX 600 gained 0.2% on Tuesday, extending the previous session’s advances, as investors continued to monitor developments in the Middle East and expectations of a potential US-Iran agreement.

Sentiment improved after US President Trump said overnight that he was postponing a planned attack on Iran following requests from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

The remarks helped to push oil prices lower, temporarily reducing pressure on global markets.

Among individual stocks, Nestle climbed 1.3%, SAP advanced 3.2%, Unilever added 1.4%, and Airbus gained 1.2%, while ASML Holding, HSBC, and Novartis traded little changed.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered fell 0.7% after announcing plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as part of a broader push to increase AI adoption.

In Germany, the government also revealed plans to re-privatize energy company Uniper, which was nationalized during the 2022 European energy crisis.



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