European markets tick higher as investors look ahead to fresh data

LONDON — European stocks turned positive Monday morning, as investors look ahead to fresh economic data and interest rate decisions from the region.

The Stoxx 600 index was up 0.26% by 8:53 a.m. London time, with all major bourses and most sectors trading in the green. Autos added 1.37% while retail stocks fell 0.6%.

European markets experienced a choppy week of trade last week as investors assessed a number of central bank decisions and data releases, including a rate cut by Switzerland’s central bank and a hold on interest rates by the Bank of England.

Monetary policy decisions come from Sweden and Turkey’s central banks this coming week while data releases to look out for include gross domestic product data from Spain on Tuesday and Italy on Friday.

Overnight, Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell as investors awaited inflation data from Australia and Japan later this week. U.S. stock futures were flat in overnight trading Sunday as the market is set to enter the last week of June and 2024′s first half near record highs.