U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
LONDON — European stocks opened in mixed territory on Monday as traders look ahead to a meeting between regional leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss Ukraine.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was flat 20 minutes after the opening bell, with no consensus movement seen among sectors and major regional bourses.
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. It’s been widely reported since then that Putin told Trump that he would agree to one, if Russia was handed Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. On Sunday, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested Ukraine could be given some security guarantees to bring an end to the war.
Overnight, Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose ahead of the talks, while U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher early Monday after hopes for lower interest rates fueled a winning week on Wall Street.
There are no major earnings on Monday. Data releases include Spanish and EU trade balance figures.
