European Stocks Edge to New Records in Early Trade

European stock markets edged to new record highs in early trade on Monday, ahead of another full week of earnings and the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the DAX in Germany climbed 0.2%, climbing to another record high, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.2%, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, climbing to a new 52-week high, while the blue chip Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.1% to an all-time high.

Global stock markets have been riding high of late, helped by strong corporate earnings, the expectation monetary policy will remain accommodative the world over and the continued rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.

In Europe, ABN AMRO (AS:ABNd) stock rose 2.4% after the Dutch bank agreed to pay a fine of 480 million euros ($574 million) to settle a criminal investigation into money laundering by prosecutors in the Netherlands.That, along with sustained strength in semiconductor and chemicals stocks, pushed the local AEX index to a new record,

Danske Bank (CSE:DANSKE) stock fell 1.5% after the CEO of the Danish bank, Chris Vogelzang, resigned after Dutch authorities named him as a suspect in the ABN Amro probe.

In Europe, CNH Industrial (NYSE:CNHI) stock fell 4% after the Italian-American company ended talks with Chinese company FAW Jiefang over the potential sale of its Iveco truck and bus business.

Juventus (MI:JUVE) stock rose 6.7%, AFC Ajax (AS:AJAX) stock rose 0.6% and Borussia Dortmund (DE:BVB) stock rose 3% following reports of an attempt to form a new breakaway soccer league in Europe. Only Juve of those three is a member of the proposed breakaway league.

Later in the week, the European Central Bank will hand down its policy decision, with the central bank likely to keep the rate unchanged and to strike a cautiously optimistic tone on the economy.

Elsewhere, investors will be keeping an eye on the growing tensions between the West and Russia over the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, after the U.S. warned of “consequences” if the dissident – now entering the third week of a hunger strike – were to die.

The Covid-19 pandemic retains a menacing presence, with the U.K. government saying on Sunday that it’s closely monitoring the spread of variants and cautioned it is too early to say if hospitality venues in England can reopen indoors as planned next month.

Oil prices edged lower Monday, struggling to add to recent gains amid concerns that surging coronavirus infections in the likes of India could have implications for global economic activity.

That said, the wider tone in the crude market has been positive of late, helped by signs of robust recoveries in both the U.S. and China, the two largest consumers of oil in the world. Both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency last week upgraded their forecasts for world oil demand growth this year.

U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $63.12 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.2% to $66.69. Both contracts rose around 6% last week.

Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,785.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1993.