In European Equity Markets stocks closed higher on Monday, following a firm lead by U.S. stocks in the previous session and as Germany looks closer to forming a new government. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.3 percent higher after hitting its highest level since August 2015 in the morning. Basic resources stocks led the gains, rallying over 1.5 percent by the end of Monday’s trade. This follows news of trade deals between France and China. Technology was the poorest performing sector, ending Monday’s trade down 0.3 percent. Looking at individual stocks, Galapagos  rose to near the top of European benchmark, up by about 4.5 percent after news of positive preliminary tests in an osteoarthritis study. Meanwhile, shares of Mothercare fell over 27 percent after the retailer issued a profit warning.

In Currency Markets the US dollar gained ground against a basket of other major currencies on Monday, helped by a pullback in the euro as investors took profits after the common currency’s recent rally. The dollar index which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was up 0.4 percent at 92.28. The euro slipped 0.5 percent to $1.1972. It had hit a nearly four-month high of $1.2089 on Thursday. The euro, which has rallied in recent weeks on expectations for a shift in European Central Bank monetary policy this year, suffered a little after a cooler-than-expected reading of the euro zone’s December consumer price index on Friday. Sterling was little changed with investors eyed a reshuffling of Britain’s cabinet, most said that barring any major surprises, the changes would be unlikely to move the pound significantly.

In Commodities Markets oil was flat on Monday, staying close to three-year highs on a slight decline in the number of U.S. rigs drilling for new production and sustained OPEC output cuts. Gold kicked off the week on negative note and was down 0.4 percent, retreating further from last week’s 3 month high as the dollar got back some ground against the euro and as traders bet on further increases to U.S. interest rates after Friday’s payrolls data. Arabica coffee futures on ICE fell on Monday as a firmer dollar and long liquidation by speculators pressured the market, while cocoa slipped on signs of ample supply in top grower Ivory Coast. Arabica coffee was down 2 cents, or 1.6 percent after hitting a session low of $1.2520. Cocoa was down 0.6 percent, at 1,356 pounds a tonne after slipping to 1,346 pounds.

In US Equity Markets the S&P 500 and the Dow were trading slightly lower on Monday, as losses in healthcare and financial stocks weight. Shares of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo were down between 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent. Most big U.S. lenders have estimated one-off charges to their fourth quarter earnings on account of tax cuts. The S&P healthcare index fell 0.8, declining most among the major S&P sectors on the first day of JP Morgan annual healthcare conference in San Francisco. Nvidia gained about 3.3 percent after the graphics chip-maker announced partnership with Uber and Volkswagen as its artificial intelligence platforms expand into technology for self-driving cars. Amazon rose about 1.2 percent after Credit Suisse hiked its price target on the online retailer’s stock.

In Bond Markets borrowing costs in the euro area fell on Monday ahead of a heavy week of new bond supply across the bloc in the first full trading week of the year. Peripheral bond markets led the fall in yields after another wave of upbeat data helped bolster sentiment towards European assets. Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy are together expected to sell almost 12 billion euros of bonds this week, while analysts say Portugal could also come to the market with a syndicated bond deal. Most euro zone 10-year bond yields were down 1-3 bps. Outperforming its peripheral peers, Portugal fell 6 basis points on Monday to 1.86 percent, before inching back to 1.88 percent in later trading. The other strong performer was Germany’s 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the region, which fell to 0.41 percent on Monday.