The UK market is modestly higher, reversing early losses, in afternoon trading Tuesday, ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on the U.S. economy later in the day.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 0.44 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.22 percent.
The FTSE 100 index opened at 5,863, and despite some early weakness, moved into positive territory later. The index is currently adding 0.18 percent.
Resolution, which announced a share buyback, is adding 3.3 percent. Legal & General is gaining 1.6 percent and Standard Life is up 1.4 percent.
Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resources, Xstrata are gaining between 1.65 percent and 1.1 percent.
Lender Lloyds Banking Group is rising 1.5 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland is adding 0.5 percent.
Tesco is falling 0.9 percent and Sainsbury is losing 0.7 percent. Retail sales in the U.K. declined in May after a temporary boost from spending during Easter holidays and Royal Wedding played out, the British Retail Consortium said.
Those making notable losses include Petrofac and Whitbread.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is adding 0.61 percent and the French CAC 40 is rising 0.49 percent, while Switzerland's SMI is losing 0.11 percent.
In other economic news, eurozone retail sales grew more than expected in April, data from Eurostat showed. Retail sales were up 0.9 percent month-on-month, offsetting 0.9 percent drop in March. Economists had expected a monthly growth of 0.3 percent.
German factory orders increased 2.8 percent month-on-month in April, the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology said. Economists had expected only 2 percent growth for April, following a 2.7 percent fall in March.
Switzerland's consumer price inflation increased slightly in May, the Federal Statistical Office said. Annual inflation rose to 0.4 percent in May from 0.3 percent in April. Economists had expected it to remain unchanged at 0.3 percent.
Across Asia/Pacific, Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.16 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.29 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.64 percent and 0.67 percent, respectively.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the Nasdaq dropped 1.1 percent and the S&P 500 slid 1.1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is falling $0.35 to $98.66 per barrel and August gold is rising $3.3 to $1550.5 a troy ounce.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.