Italy outperforms Europe stocks on coalition hopes Europe Markets

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Italian political advisor of the M5S Five Star political movement, Davide Casaleggio (C) and Italys Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede face reporters as they leave following a meeting of the M5S movement on August 26, 2019 in Rome.

Italian stocks on Tuesday gained ground, aided by hopes that a new government can be formed without an election.

The Italy FTSE MIB /zigman2/quotes/210598024/delayed IT:I945 -3.15% rose 1.14% to 20913.64.

Reports indicated that the 5-Star Movement was on the cusp of reaching a deal with the Democratic Party to form a new coalition. If an election is held instead, an automatic VAT increase is triggered.

Elsewhere in Europe, stocks turned higher. The German DAX /zigman2/quotes/210597999/delayed DX:DAX -3.68% rose 0.38% to 11701.99 and the French CAC 40 /zigman2/quotes/210597958/delayed FR:PX1 -4.23% gained 0.18% to 5360.40.

The U.K. FTSE 100 /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX -5.25% declined 0.21% to 7080.23 after a three-day break.

After a 269-point advance for the Dow industrials /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA -4.06% on Monday, U.S. stock futures /zigman2/quotes/209948968/delayed ES00 -3.37% were a bit higher.

Focus stocks

Deutsche Boerse /zigman2/quotes/205502669/delayed DE:DB1 -5.62% shares fell 1.9% as the exchange operator revealed a tax probe.

Insulation maker Rockwool International /zigman2/quotes/200482992/delayed DK:ROCK.B -2.35% dropped 4%, extending losses after cutting guidance.

Airport operator Flughafen Zurich /zigman2/quotes/208931828/delayed CH:FHZN +1.26% rose after reporting a first-half profit rise of 10% and saying its annual profit will grow 5%. It also reduced its passenger growth guidance to 2% growth from 3% growth.

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