A bull statue and a bear statue stand outside the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on April 7, 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Florian Wiegand | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Shares listed in Europe struggled to find direction on Tuesday, as uncertainty around a resolution to the Iran war weighed on sentiment.
Shortly after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat, with sectors and major regional bourses showing mixed performance.
Regional shares ended Monday’s session in broadly positive territory after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington had held productive talks over a “complete and total resolution” to the Iran conflict. The president told CNBC’s Joe Kernen in a subsequent phone call that he was “very intent on making a deal with Iran.”
However, Tehran later denied any talks with the U.S. had taken place.
On Tuesday morning, oil prices — which fell sharply after Trump’s comments on Monday — rebounded, with global benchmark Brent crude futures rising around 1.4% to hover above $100.
Brent crude futures
Asian stocks tracked a rally on Wall Street overnight, but pared gains throughout the trading session. In the U.S., futures data point to a positive open on Tuesday as the Iran war remained in focus.
Outside of equities, gold extended losses on Tuesday to sink further into bear market territory. Spot gold was last seen trading 0.4% lower at $4,386.69 an ounce.
Economic data out of Europe on Tuesday includes a manufacturing PMI print from Germany, an S&P Global flash manufacturing PMI for the U.K., and new car registrations in the EU.
In corporate news, beauty conglomerate Estée Lauder said on Monday night that it was in talks with Spain’s Puig — owner of Jean Paul Gaultier, Charlotte Tilbury and Rabanne — about a potential merger. Shares of Puig were last seen trading 14.3% higher.
Puig share price