Ireland in focus over bailout rumors; MAN SE jumps on M&A talk
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets turned higher on Monday, as jittery investors kept an eye on worries surrounding the Irish economy, while deal talk boosted the shares of German truck maker MAN SE.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 270.65, +0.47, +0.17%) gained 0.2% to 270.30 in afternoon trading, after earlier falling as much as 0.5%.
The index ended down 0.7% last week.
Ireland never the average always the extreme
Are the euro zone's smallest countries set to be endlessly ignored by the ECB? The ECB sets monetary policy according to the average of the euro zone economic indicators but this has helped contribute to countries such as Ireland oscillating from one extreme to the next, overperformance before the crisis to an outlook of multi-year weakness.
In Germany, the DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 6,748, +13.00, +0.19%) rose 0.1% to 6,739.02. Shares of MAN (DE:MAN 87.88, +5.89, +7.18%) rallied over 7% after the truck maker and Swedish peer Scania AB (SE:SCVA 145.90, +2.10, +1.46%) confirmed merger talks, but said no final decision has been taken.
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets turned higher on Monday, as jittery investors kept an eye on worries surrounding the Irish economy, while deal talk boosted the shares of German truck maker MAN SE.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 270.65, +0.47, +0.17%) gained 0.2% to 270.30 in afternoon trading, after earlier falling as much as 0.5%.
The index ended down 0.7% last week.
Ireland never the average always the extreme
Are the euro zone's smallest countries set to be endlessly ignored by the ECB? The ECB sets monetary policy according to the average of the euro zone economic indicators but this has helped contribute to countries such as Ireland oscillating from one extreme to the next, overperformance before the crisis to an outlook of multi-year weakness.
In Germany, the DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 6,748, +13.00, +0.19%) rose 0.1% to 6,739.02. Shares of MAN (DE:MAN 87.88, +5.89, +7.18%) rallied over 7% after the truck maker and Swedish peer Scania AB (SE:SCVA 145.90, +2.10, +1.46%) confirmed merger talks, but said no final decision has been taken.
