Stocks Drift Lower Across Europe; Coffee M&A Steals the Show as Wind Stocks Lose Lift

The first trading day of the week brought a quieter mood to European markets. With London closed for a holiday and investors still parsing Friday’s central-bank signals, regional benchmarks slipped modestly. It was a session defined less by index direction than by stock-specific stories, with one giant takeover in coffee and a setback in offshore wind shaping the day’s winners and losers.
The headline grabber was JDE Peet’s. Its shares surged after a U.S. beverage giant agreed to buy the company for cash at a price that hands holders a sizable premium. The deal is part of a broader rethink: once the acquisition is complete, the buyer intends to split itself into two separately listed businesses, creating a stand-alone coffee group alongside a beverages company. Investors cheered the prospect of a global pure-play coffee leader and the potential for sharper strategic focus on both sides of the split. The seller’s stock soared, while the acquirer’s edged lower as the market penciled in financing costs and the usual deal risks.
Beyond that burst of enthusiasm, the rest of the tape was more subdued. Germany and France slipped as last week’s relief rally met a thin-liquidity Monday. With few catalysts on the docket, money rotated back toward steady cash flows and away from the more economically sensitive corners of the market. Trading desks described the session as “wait-and-see”—a pause to let the week’s inflation and confidence data arrive before making bigger bets on the path of rate cuts.
Clean-energy shares were the notable laggard. A U.S. order halting construction on a high-profile offshore wind project rippled across European peers, reviving questions about permitting reliability and funding plans at companies already juggling leverage and execution timelines. The move didn’t alter the long-term decarbonization story, but it did remind investors how quickly policy-driven headlines can knock the sector off balance.
Currencies and bonds did little, reinforcing the idea that equity moves were more about positioning than a shift in the macro backdrop. That could change quickly: a softer-than-feared U.S. inflation reading or stronger European survey data would likely brighten risk appetite and steepen leadership back toward growth and cyclicals. Conversely, any hotter price signals could keep investors hugging quality and cash-return stories a while longer.
For now, Europe’s market message is simple. After a strong finish last week, Monday brought a step back for the indices, a leap forward for a coffee deal that could remake a global category, and another reminder that policy risk still shadows parts of the energy transition. The next leg will be written by the week’s data, not by today’s headlines.