European Shares Gain On Positive Data, Solid Bank Earnings

European stocks traded mostly higher on Tuesday as investors reacted to mostly positive regional economic data and encouraging bank earnings.

German factory orders decreased 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in March, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent - according to data from Destatis.

Nonetheless, the pace of decrease slowed from the revised 0.8 percent drop logged in February.

Separate set of data showed that German exports gained 0.9 percent on a monthly basis in March, reversing a 1.6 percent fall in February.

Elsewhere, data from the customs office showed France's trade deficit dropped to EUR 5.47 billion in March from EUR 5.61 billion in February as exports rose faster than imports.

In the U.K., data from the mortgage lender Halifax showed that house prices in the U.K. were steady in April after falling in March.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose 0.6 percent to 511.31 after gaining half a percent on Monday.

The German DAX climbed 0.6 percent, France's CAC 40 edged up 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up over 1 percent.

In corporate news, Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG soared 8.2 percent as it returned to profit after two loss-making quarters.

UniCredit SpA rallied 3.5 percent after Italy's second biggest lender posted a much higher Q1 net income than expected and upgraded its net profit guidance for the year.

German semiconductor-maker Infineon Technologies AG jumped 9.4 percent despite cutting its revenue forecast in the current fiscal year.

Software developer TeamViewer slumped 6.7 percent after reporting Q1 revenue and earnings below estimates.

Health technology company Siemens Healthineers tumbled almost 4 percent after Q2 revenue missed expectations.

Zalando soared 5.2 percent. The online fashion retailer backed its full-year guidance after returning to growth in the first quarter.

Valneva shares dropped 1.6 percent in Paris. The biotech company recorded a turnaround to net income for the first quarter, supported by a net gain of 90.8 million euros from the sale of the priority review voucher.

Bouygues, a construction, media and telecommunications group, lost 3.5 percent after widening its Q1 loss.

British office-space provider IWG was marginally lower after reporting flat revenue for first quarter of 2024.

Oil & gas giant BP Plc dropped half a percent after first-quarter profit missed estimates.

Ferrexpo jumped 3 percent. The Swiss iron ore company with assets in Ukraine issued an update on proceedings against its Ukrainian subsidiary Ferrexpo Poltava Mining.

The company said it has decided to make a partial payment of the bail approved by the Kyiv Court of Appeal on April 29 for Viktor Lotous, the General Director and Chair of the FPM Management Board, in connection with royalty related investigation.

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