In European Equity Markets shares rose on Monday, with gains across bourses and industry sectors, as the focus gradually shifts from the earnings season to monetary policy and politics with Italy’s election on Sunday. The pan-European STOXX benchmark index closed up 0.6 percent at 383.34 points. Italy’s benchmark index was one of the worst country performers, up 0.2 percent. Nordic telecom companies Nokia and Ericsson were up 2.3 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. Expectations for next-generation 5G networks are on the rise after Nokia’s CEO said major telecom operators were accelerating their timelines for adopting 5G by up to a year. Bank of Ireland fell 2.1 percent. The lender said it would resume dividend payments for the first time since the financial crisis and reported underlying profits steady at 1.1 billion euros.

In Currency Markets the US dollar inched higher on Monday in choppy trading ahead of a slew of U.S. economic data and events this week, including Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony, which could determine whether the greenback’s recovery from a three-year low can be sustained. Investors will be scanning Powell’s comments for any signs that the central bank wants to raise rates faster to address inflationary pressures. Concerns about rising inflation after a prolonged period of stagnant price gains have raised the possibility that the Fed could tighten more than expected this year and the next, an expectation that has boosted Treasury yields and lifted the dollar. The euro was little changed against the dollar at $1.2292. The dollar was also flat versus the yen at 106.90 yen.

In Commodities Markets oil rose on Monday, hitting a two-and-a-half-week high, supported by strong U.S. demand and comments from Saudi Arabia that it would continue to curb production in line with OPEC-led efforts. Brent crude rose 20 cents to $67.51 a barrel, after rising almost 4 percent last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 41 cents to $63.96 a barrel after rising 3 percent last week. Prices were supported by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said on Saturday the country’s crude production in January-March would be well below output caps, with exports averaging less than 7 million barrels per day. Hedge funds and money managers upped their bullish wagers on U.S. crude oil for the first time in four weeks, data showed on Friday.

In US Equity Markets gains in technology and industrial shares boosted Wall Street on Monday, with investors also awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony for his views on the path of interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 was up 0.54 percent, at 2,762.03 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.57 percent, at 7,379.46. Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 0.81 percent gain in the technology index.   Qualcomm shares rose 3.2 percent after the chipmaker urged Broadcom to enter into price negotiations on its $117 billion offer for the company. Broadcom was down about 0.7 percent. GE fell  more than 2 percent after the industrial conglomerate nominated three new candidates to its board.

In Bond Markets Euro zone government bond yields drifted lower on Monday with Germany’s benchmark Bund yield briefly touching a one-month low, as investors positioned for a run of potentially market-moving data and events this week. Having already dipped in early trade, bond yields were pinned lower as ECB chief Mario Draghi told the European Union parliament that slack in the euro zone economy might be bigger than estimated, slowing the rise of inflation. Germany’s 10-year government bond yields were unchanged at 0.65 percent towards the close of the trading session. Peripheral bond yields, which came under some selling pressure last week from pre-election jitters in Italy, were down 3-4 basis points on the day.