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European stocks rebound on eurozone politics, ahead of UK budget

European stock markets rebounded strongly on Monday, as investors reacted to political developments in eurozone big-hitters Germany and Italy.

Investors in London meanwhile eyed a key British budget announcement heading into Brexit, while Asian stock markets fluctuated with traders remaining on edge after last week's global equities rout.

"The European rebound really gathered pace on Monday, with investors seemingly choosing to focus on... the eurozone," said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group.

Germany's Angela Merkel announced on Monday she will step down as German chancellor at the end of her term, after voters again punished her fragile coalition in a regional poll.

"Today is a tale of the two chancellors, with Angela Merkel's decision to step down as the leader of the CDU grabbing the headlines ahead of Philip Hammond's pre-Brexit budget," said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG trading group.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond will try to navigate a political minefield on Monday when he unveils a budget at 17:30 that could nevertheless be scuppered by the final terms of Brexit next year.

Traders on Monday reacted to news also that ratings agency S&P downgraded its outlook for Italy's sovereign debt but left its headline credit rating untouched as Rome remains in a stand-off with Brussels over its budget.

"While news that (Chancellor) Angela Merkel will not stand for re-election as chair of the CDU party in December... could have caused the fragile markets to spiral, the eurozone instead led the charge higher," said Campbell.

"Celebrating the fact S&P left Italy's credit rating unchanged despite warnings of a recession and banking crisis elsewhere, the FTSE MIB (in Milan) surged," the analyst added.

London's FTSE 100 was up 1.8% around midday, Frankfurt also added 1.8% and Paris was ahead 1.0% after a technical problem delayed the opening.

By contrast, Shanghai lost more than 2.0% by the close.

In foreign exchange, the euro and pound steadied, while oil futures flattened.

Shares in Asia-focused bank HSBC surged 5.7% to 639.50 pence after the London-headquartered lender posted bumper quarterly profits.

On Wall Street, even a forecast-busting jump in US economic growth in the third quarter was not enough to prevent all three main indices in New York from tanking on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 falling into negative territory for the year.

The US losses came after titans Alphabet and Amazon missed some key earnings targets, which added to concerns about rising American interest rates and the China-US trade war that shows no sign of abating.

Attention now turns to the release later this week of US jobs data for a fresh glimpse of the world's top economy.

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