European Stocks End Higher
European stocks closed modestly higher Monday, as investors took the opportunity to snap up some bargains following last week's volatility and after a smaller-than-expected contraction in the Japanese economy provided support to the main equity markets along with surprise M&A news out of the U.S.</br></br>Asian and European stock markets posted solid gains after data showed that Japan's gross domestic product contracted 1.3% in the second quarter, a much smaller drop than the 2.7% expected by economists who were concerned about the effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.</br></br>The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended up 0.2% at 237.85. Last week, the index dropped to a two-year low of 217.37, while other European indexes jumped between losses and gains of around 3% on a daily basis.</br></br>The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed 0.6% higher at 5350.58. Germany's DAX ended up 0.4% at 6022.24 and France's CAC-40 increased 0.8% to 3239.06. The main Asian indexes also ended higher with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closing up 1.4%.</br></br>By the close of European equity markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.0% and the S&P 500 was 1.1% higher. Deal news was a fillip here, after Motorola Mobility announced it is to be acquired by Google for $12.5 billion. In Europe, this provided a boost to Nokia, which closed up 9.1%. "In our view, further near-term performance is likely to be driven by speculation about a bid from another smart-phone industry player," said S&P Equity Research analyst James Crawshaw, commenting on the deal.