European stock markets started the week on an upbeat note as traders queried central banks’ resolve to keep raising interest rates amid mounting evidence of a global economic slowdown.
The regional Stoxx 600 rose 0.5 per cent on Monday, with London’s FTSE 100 adding 0.9 per cent. US equity and bond markets were closed for the July 4 holiday.
The Stoxx has registered weekly losses for four of the past five weeks against a backdrop of surging inflation in the eurozone and the UK, stoked by higher energy prices, with central banks raising borrowing costs in response.
However, after a closely watched survey from the Institute for Supply Management showed the pace of growth in the US manufacturing sector declined sharply in June, money markets have tipped the US Federal Reserve, the world’s most influential central bank, to scale back the pace of its rate rises.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 share index closed 1.1 per…
