European Shares Struggle For Direction In Lackluster Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks struggled for direction on Monday after recent string of gains.

A cautious undertone prevailed after more Federal Reserve officials said on Friday that U.S. interest rates are likely to remain at elevated levels until there is clear sign that the rate of inflation is slowing.

Investors looked ahead to the release of key U.S. inflation data and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech due this week for additional clarity on the Fed's rate trajectory.

China's consumer inflation rose for a third straight month in April, while the producer price index declined for a 19th month, data showed earlier today.

The pan European STOXX 600 was marginally lower at 520.50 after climbing 0.8 percent on Friday.

The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 eased 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was marginally lower.

Diploma shares jumped 5 percent in London after the technical products supplier reported a good set of half-year results and raised its sales and earnings forecasts.

Victrex added 1.3 percent. The high-performance polymers group forecast improvement in the second half after underlying profits dropped by a third in the first half.

Mission Group surged 5.2 percent. The digital marketing agency rejected a takeover proposal from rival Brave Bison.

Sanofi added 1.2 percent. The French drug major announced an investment of more than 1 billion euros to create new bioproduction capacity at its various sites in France.

German IT company Q.beyond rose 1.1 percent after narrowing its Q1 loss and confirming 2024 outlook.

Adesso SE slumped 4 percent. The IT services provider reported that its first-quarter consolidated loss was 3.30 million euros, compared to prior year's profit of 2.02 million euros.

Ceconomy added nearly 1 percent after the electronics retailer said it expects adjusted earnings for fiscal 2024 to be above analysts' expectations.