Banks spur rebound in European stocks; focus on Fed meeting

Shares of RWE rose 1.4% after Germany's biggest utility pledged a higher dividend and more investments to expand its core renewables business. Thyssenkrupp climbed 3.3% after business daily Handelsblatt reported that the company's supervisory board is at odds over the right strategy for its steel business.

European shares rose nearly 1% on Tuesday, with banking stocks leading the recovery following a raft of measures to stabilise the sector, while investors hoped for less-aggressive moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve at its policy meeting this week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.9% by 0809 GMT, extending gains after the index sharply recouped intraday losses and closed the session up nearly 1% on Monday. The Fed begins a two-day meeting later in the day and after a wild few sessions U.S. interest rate futures pricing implies that a peak in rates is either imminent or already reached, with newfound stability concerns to push inflation-fighting aside.

Europe's banking index jumped 1.8%, with shares in Swiss banks Credit Suisse trading flat and UBS gaining 3.5%. Banking stocks globally breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after UBS's state-backed takeover of the 167-year-old Credit Suisse raised hopes that a wider banking crisis was averted in the near-term, although worries lingered about smaller U.S. banks and the damage to credit markets.

Europe's banking index is down more than 14% so far in March. Shares of RWE rose 1.4% after Germany's biggest utility pledged a higher dividend and more investments to expand its core renewables business.

Thyssenkrupp climbed 3.3% after business daily Handelsblatt reported that the company's supervisory board is at odds over the right strategy for its steel business.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)