European stocks traded higher Tuesday as investors began to mitigate the sharp downturn caused by China's announcement of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports.
European markets
The pan-European STOXX 600 closed up 0.91% in trade. Sector wise, basic resources and tech led gains, rising 1.74% and1.8% respectively.
Beijing announced Monday that it would raise tariffs on $60 billion worth U.S. goods starting on June 1 as the ongoing trade war between the world's largest economies intensifies. The news triggered a market sell-off, but European stocks began a recovery through Tuesday morning trade.
Stateside, President Donald Trump said Monday that he had not decided whether to go through with tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese goods, but the Office of U.S. Trade Representatives kicked off the necessary legal process to impose the further duties.
U.S. stocks rose at their opening bell in New York on Tuesday, regaining some of the lost ground in the previous session.
After the initial flurry of opening trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 100 points, led by a gain in Disney shares. The S&P 500 advanced 0.4% as tech shares outperformed. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.
Back in Europe, the United Kingdom's foreign minister has warned of a possible conflict in the already unstable Gulf region as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks with European leaders on the situation in Iran.
In corporate news, shares of Bayer dropped 2%, after a California jury hit the German pharmaceutical giant with a $2 billion punitive damages award to a couple who claimed its Roundup weed killer caused their cancer. It was the largest U.S. jury verdict to date in litigation over the chemical.
German insurer Allianz posted a small rise in net profit for the first quarter from the same time period last year, marginally ahead of expectations, and confirmed its targets for 2019. Net profit rose to 1.969 billion euros ($2.21 billion). The company's stock rose slightly in early trade.
Volkswagen shares traded 1% higher after the German automaker presented plans for an IPO (initial public offering) of its truck division.
Vodafone shares finishee down 3.7%, recovering from an early dip after the British telecoms company announced it would slash its dividend to tackle its debt burden.
Shares of Thyssenkrupp close 3.1% lower after posting a loss for its second quarter, days after the steel-to-elevators conglomerate was forced to abandon plans to split the company in two.
Italian cable maker Prysmian was the standout performer in the morning session, its stock rising 7.2% after its first-quarter earnings announcement topped expectations. This came despite the company admitting on Monday that it couldn't rule out more faults at its embattled WesternLink project, a high voltage infrastructure project between England and Scotland.
German online classifieds company Scout24 led losses, falling 4.9% upon the announcement that a takeover bid led by Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone had failed.