European stocks mostly lower; European leaders head to Washington

Investing.com - European stocks mostly edged lower Monday ahead of a key meeting between European leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the future of Ukraine. 

At 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT), the DAX index in Germany dropped 0.3%, the CAC 40 in France slipped 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. rose 0.1%. 

European leaders head to the White House 

The meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday concluded without a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, and now attention has turned towards a gathering of European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Washington to discuss a possible peace deal.

Zelensky is likely to come under pressure to agree to a deal, with reports suggesting that a possible agreement could involve Ukraine relinquishing swathes of its eastern region, including Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia, while the Kremlin will withdraw from Southern regions of Kherson and Zapopizhzhia. 

Ukraine has previously rejected any notion of ceding land to Russia. 

Trump said on Sunday that Zelensky could end the war with Russia ‘almost immediately’ by acquiescing to Moscow’s demands.

The conflict has raged for over three years, and has severely disrupted the global supply chain, resulting in inflated commodity prices and has hit global economic growth. 

Jackson Hole on the horizon 

The economic data slate mainly consists of eurozone trade figures for June in Europe Monday, and attention is likely to be on the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium this week, with Chairman Jerome Powell set to speak on the economic outlook and the Fed’s policy framework on Friday.

ECB President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey are also on panel discussions.

A Fed rate cut in September is around 85% priced in by the markets, so anything less than dovish talk from Powell would be a setback for risk sentiment.

U.S. retail sector in focus 

There’s little in the way of major earnings in Europe Monday, but the retail sector will be in focus this week on Wall Street, with the likes of Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Target (NYSE:TGT), Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) all reporting.

Valuations have been underpinned by a solid earnings season as Goldman Sachs noted that S&P 500 EPS grew 11% on the year and 58% of companies raised their full-year guidance. 

Crude steady after Trump-Putin summit

Oil prices steadied Monday, after last week’s losses, as concerns over Russian supply receded following last week’s meeting between Trump and Putin.

At 03:10 ET, Brent futures gained 0.1% to $65.87 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.2% to $62.09 a barrel.

Both contracts fell nearly 1.5% on Friday, and ended with sharp weekly losses before the U.S.-Russia meeting concluded.

Trump decided against exerting any further pressure on Russia to end the Ukraine war through measures to disrupt its oil exports following his meeting with Putin on Friday.