European stocks close mixed ahead of Trump-Ukraine crunch talks

LONDON — European stocks had a mixed session on Monday as traders monitored corporate updates and a meeting between regional leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss Ukraine.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed fractionally above the flatline. Health-care stocks led gains, up 1.4%, as Novo Nordisk shares climbed 6.6%. The Danish pharmaceutical giant's blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy won regulatory approval in the United States to treat a serious liver disease.

European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, are traveling with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington to meet Trump at the White House to discuss a peace deal.

Zelenskyy is likely to come under pressure to enter a deal. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the president could "end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight." The meeting follows Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, but the talks concluded without a ceasefire.

Shares of Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind surged 14.2%, after the U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued new rules around tax credits for clean energy projects. Under the new system, developers will only be able to qualify once physical work on the project begins. Previously, they were able to claim tax relief by paying at least 5% of project costs and demonstrating that some form of work on the project was ongoing.

At the other end of the Stoxx 600, Commerzbank fell 3.4%. The German lender was downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" by strategists at Deutsche Bank on Monday, who cited its high price-to-earnings premium after the stock tripled over the last year.

Shares in U.K. homebuilders dipped slightly, after the Guardian reported that the government is considering a new tax on sales of homes worth more than £500,000 ($676,000). CNBC has contacted the U.K. Treasury for comment.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Monday, while U.S. stocks were little-changed in early deals as investors await a string of Federal Reserve speeches and monitor retail earnings.