LONDON, February 18. /TASS/. The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which includes shares of 600 largest companies of the EU and the UK, has climbed to a record of 555.42 points as defense stocks continued to climb on the likelihood of increased military spending in the region, Reuters reported.
The surge came after European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said that the commission would propose exempting defense spending from EU government spending limits.
The sector gained 4.6% on Monday in its biggest one-day rise since February 2022, while on Tuesday shares added another 1%. Shares of Italy's Leonardo went up by 1.4% on Tuesday, while shares of Sweden's Saab AB and Britain's BAE Systems rose by 1% and 0.5%, respectively. Germany’s Thyssenkrupp, which is planning to spin off its warship division, added 2% on Tuesday after a nearly 20% surge on Monday.
Leaders of 27 European Union members met in Brussels on February 3 for their first-ever meeting dedicated solely to defense issues. Following the informal defense summit, they tasked the EC and European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas with drafting and presenting in coming months a strategy for fortifying Europe’s defense and boosting spending on it. US President Donald Trump repeatedly stated after his inauguration that he intended to make sure that NATO member states in Europe increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. Members of the alliance set the task of bringing it to 2% of GDP at a summit in Wales in September 2014.