European stocks ended the Monday after the European Commission outlined plans to ease Covid-19 restrictions on tourism, while strong sales data for factories and retailers and a robust season for corporate earnings added to optimism.

The Eurozone share index rose 0.6 percent, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 index also rose 0.6 percent.

Profits in the Travel sector were in limited due to a vacation United Kingdom Markets Markets as UK stocks make up most of the sector. The British holiday also kept the volume of trade in European markets low. The Dublin stock market was also closed.

Still bourses in Italy, Germany and Spain significant gains following a survey that found factory activity growth in the eurozone hit a record high last month, while German retail sales in March saw their largest year-over-year increase since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

German company for health technology Siemens Health advisor rose 2 percent after the German airline raised its full-year revenue and profit forecast Lufthansa rose 2.6 percent after plans to offer flights to more than 100 vacation destinations.

In the US, the S&P 500 and Dow indexes rose as a largely positive earnings season bolstered expectations for continued earnings growth, while the Nasdaq came under pressure from declines in some soaring growth stocks.

Economically sensitive cyclical S&P 500 sectors such as finance, energy, industrials and materials outperformed sectors with growth stocks including technology and communications services in the early afternoon.

The Nasdaq index fell as megacap technology stocks, including Amazon. With, alphabet, Facebook and Microsofttraded lower despite largely positive results.

Modern gained 4.5 percent after the drug maker announced it would ship 34 million doses Covid-19 vaccination this year to global Covax Program. Estee Lauder declined 7.5 percent after the cosmetics maker missed analysts’ estimates for third-quarter sales. – Reuters

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