European equities are backed by NAFTA deal progress

On Monday, European stocks jumped after a market-friendly speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as well as signs of progress on a US-Mexico NAFTA trade pact that pushed equities up.

The European STOXX 600 managed to add 0.3%, Germany's DAX gained 0.4%, reacting to fresh record maximums from the American S&P 500 as well as Nasdaq after Powell stuck with the major bank’s forecast for gradual interest rate lifts.

As for UK markets, they were unavailable due to a public holiday, thus making trading volumes thin enough across the region. By the way, the STOXX 600 happened to be through just 6% of its average daily volume during the first 90 minutes of trade.

Additionally, car equities SXAP turned out to be the top-notch gainers, adding 0.9% after on Saturday Donald Trump told that a trade pact with Mexico was near.

Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW tacked on to 1.6%. Eventually, the German car makers put much value on smooth trade between America and Mexico to sell cars made in Mexican manufacturing plants into the American market.

The equities of Lundin Petroleum jumped by 4% after Norway's Equinor ramped up its resource forecast for the Johan Sverdrup oilfield where Lundin boasts a 22.6% stake.

Germany-listed equities of American electric car maker Tesla headed south more than 5% in early deals, thus showing that the American stock is going to take a hit right after Chief Executive Elon Musk dared to call off his bid with the aim of taking the company private.

Year-to-date the STOXX 600 has slumped by 1.2% because political developments in Turkey and Italy put pressure on the market and especially banking equities.

In addition to this, the FTSE MIB index managed to underperform counterparts in Italy, inching down approximately 0.2%.

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