European Markets Wobble: Autos Lag as Tech and Mining Shine

European stocks faced a downturn on Monday, driven by weaknesses in automakers, despite resurging gains in the technology and mining sectors. The Madrid market index took a significant hit, reaching its lowest point in over a week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 showed a loss trend, dipping 0.4% during the day and closing down by 0.1%, pressured largely by defensive stocks such as Unilever and Nestle. Spanish banking stocks exacerbated the situation, causing Madrid's benchmark to plummet by 1.2% to levels unseen since September 10.

Porsche experienced a sharp fall of over 8%, marking its worst performance in nearly three years, after issuing warnings about delays in its electric vehicle rollouts and revising its 2025 outlook. This development dragged the autos index down to a month-low. Meanwhile, technology stocks played a buffering role, climbing 0.8% as chipmakers ASML and ASMI gained 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively.