European stock markets ended higher Monday as robust export data from Germany boosted economic sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.38 percent with almost all sectors and major bourses in positive territory. Technology stocks were among the best-performing as investors regained faith in the sector following a brief lull earlier in the month. Looking at individual stocks, Air France-KLM pared all of its early gains after reporting strong second-quarter bookings — an indication that interest in the French holiday market may be returning after a lull prompted by security concerns last year. Its shares ended slightly lower. Sweden's Alfa Laval was among the top performers after receiving a rating upgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Its shares closed almost 3 percent higher. Mail and e-commerce company Postnl jumped to the top of the benchmark, up over 4 percent. Shares in the Dutch postal firm appeared to soar after Henk Kamp, the outgoing economy minister, suggested regulatory changes were needed in the industry. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Wall Street continued marginally higher as government bond markets showed signs of stabilizing after a recent sell-off. German data Germany's trade surplus widened as it reported exports rose more than expected in May. Total exports of goods increased by 1.4 percent to 107.9 billion euros ($123.1 billion) in May. This translated to a 14.1 percent leap from the previous year. Imports rose 1.2 percent on the month to a record 87.6 billion in adjusted terms. That's up 16. 2 percent on May 2016. G-20 aftermath World leaders met over the weekend in Hamburg at the 12th annual G-20 talks, during which global issues such as trade, climate change and defense were discussed. During the talks, President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time and discussed forming "an impenetrable cybersecurity unit" – an idea he has since retracted. Reports later emerged suggesting that Trump's son was involved in meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer to discuss damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. Source: CNBC
