The European markets are marginally to moderately higher in afternoon trading Monday, even as eurozone debt worries continue to linger in the background. Volumes remained thin owing to a holiday in the U.K.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chippers is adding 0.17 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.12 percent.
The German DAX is adding 0.43 percent, the CAC 40 index is rising 0.15 percent and Switzerland's SMI is rising 0.08 percent. The UK market is closed for the Spring holiday.
Among the DAX components, diversified chemical firms Basf and Bayer are gaining 2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. K+S is rising 1.1 percent.
Adidas is rising 1.5 percent. The sports goods giant said it is on track to achieve its goals for 2012 London Olympics.
Automakers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW are moderately higher.
Deutsche Bank is up 0.3 percent, while Commerzbank is declining 2.85 percent. In Paris, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Natixis are losing between 0.9 percent and 0.1 percent.
Utilities RWE and E.ON are losing 2.2 percent and 1.8 percent, in that order, after reports said the country would close its nuclear reactors by 2022, following the quake and the related events in Japan that led to the damage of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
Outside the main index, Renewable Energy Corp. is gaining 3.3 percent in Frankfurt. Vestas Wind Systems is rising 2.5 percent.
In Paris, machinery maker Alstom is adding 1.5 percent, thus leading the gainers. The company announced a contract worth 665 million euros with the Polish operator PKP Intercity to supply 20 high speed trains, their maintenance up to 17 years and the construction of a new maintenance depot.
Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis announced a three-year research collaboration agreement with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative or DNDi, an independent, not-for-profit product development partnership. Sanofi is adding 0.4 percent.
Those making moderate gains include brewer Pernod-Ricard, real estate investment trust Unibail-Rodamco, retailer Carrefour and dairy giant Danone.
Carmakers Peugeot and Renault are losing 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Builders Bougues and Vinci are falling.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mostly lower. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.30 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.14 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 0.18 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, added 0.29 percent.
The U.S. markets are closed for Memorial Day. In the previous session, the Dow rose 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.4 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is dropping $0.43 to $100.16 per barrel, while August gold is adding $0.4 to $1537.7 a troy ounce.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.