European Stocks Consolidate After Sharp Gains

European stock markets consolidated Monday after strong pre-weekend gains, with optimism that economies are emerging from coronavirus gloom limiting the losses from profit-taking.

On Wall Street, the Dow index meanwhile powered on, gaining nearly 300 points by the late New York morning, with Asian equities having already posted gains earlier.

In Europe, London, Frankfurt and Paris were all in mildly negative territory at the close.

"European equities are mixed in late-day action, with the global markets remaining positive amid the backdrop of the recent flood of monetary and fiscal policy stimulus efforts around the globe, as the Fed leads the way, and as coordinated relief efforts in Europe have emerged as of late," analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage said in a note.

The overall mood was still positive, said Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at Thinkmarkets, and "momentum in the global stock market rally is continuing to crush the bears".

A blockbuster US jobs report on Friday boosted hope that economies were emerging from the COVID-19 slowdown faster than thought as central banks and governments were injecting massive funds.

What selling there was on Monday happened because some investors "chose to take a bit of profit", said Pierre Veyret, analyst at trading group ActivTrades.

"The risk appetite remains," he said.

As countries continue to ease lockdown measures and with trillions of dollars in stimulus and central bank support pledged, equities have surged since hitting a trough in March.

"While there are still significant uncertainties over the COVID-19 impact on corporate earnings, investors are encouraged by the reopening of economies that is likely to lead to a rebound in profitability later this year," said Iyad Abu Hweij of Allied Investment Partners PJSC.

Crude futures advanced early Monday after OPEC members and other key oil producers agreed Saturday to extend historic output cuts of almost 10 million barrels a day for another month through to the end of July.

But the rally went into sharp reverse following reports that Saudi Arabia would not extend additional, voluntary output reductions that it has been implementing alongside the current production deal beyond the end of this month.

Keeping the voluntary reductions from Saudi, UAE and Kuwait in place while there are supply deficits would have been "too good to be true", said Bjornar Tonhaugen, an analyst at Rystad Energy.