European markets close higher but defense, pharma stocks falter

European stocks ended the session in positive territory at the start of a busy week for Europe’s central banks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended the session up 0.8%, with most sectors and major bourses in the green.

It’s a busy week for investors in Europe with the European Central Bank’s final policy meeting of the year on Thursday, when the bank is expected to keep rates at 2%.

Speaking to the Financial Times, ECB President Christine Lagarde said the central bank was likely to lift its growth forecasts again in December, after raising its prediction for annual GDP growth to 1.2% back in September.

Other central banks, including the Bank of England, Riksbank, and Norges Bank, will also hold their last monetary policy decisions for 2025 this week. It could be a close call, but the BOE is expected to trim interest rates. Eurozone and U.K. inflation figures are also out on Wednesday.

European leaders’ mettle will also be tested this week as they address funding for Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, including the possible use of billions of frozen Russian assets to underpin a 210-billion-euro loan ($246 billion) to Kyiv.

A number of European defense names closed in the red on Monday after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to drop Ukraine’s long-term aim of joining NATO, in a major policy shift.

Rheinmetall ended the trading session down 2.6% and Renk fell 0.9%, both paring steeper losses from earlier in the day. Hensoldt dropped 1% while Saab dropped 0.2%.

The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the recent ice cream spin-off from Unilever, closed 6.6% higher

In contrast, Dutch biopharma company Argenx shed 3.9% after the company discontinued a phase three trial for its thyroid eye disease treatment.

Sanofi closed the session 3.3% lower after the French pharmaceutical company’s multiple sclerosis drug, tolebrutinib, failed to meet its main goal of delaying progression of disability in patients with a severe form of MS. In another blow to the stock, the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has delayed a decision on the experimental medicine, expecting further guidance from the regulator by next quarter.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals closed down 0.9% after the company said CEO Riad Mishlawi would step down from his role. Shares in GSK, meanwhile, were up 0.5% at the close after the European Medicines Agency recommended the British pharmaceutical and biotech company’s depemokimab drug for approval as a treatment for severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis.

In the U.S., stocks were little changed by mid-morning Monday following a mixed week on Wall Street amid a big rotation out of tech and into parts of the market trading at lower valuations.

Traders also braced for a slew of U.S. economic data reports ahead this week, including November nonfarm payrolls figures and October retail sales figures released on Tuesday. The reports were delayed due to the U.S. government shutdown that took place in the fall. The November consumer price index is due out on Thursday.

Asia-Pacific markets fell Monday, after the declines on Wall Street last week dented sentiment.