EUROPEAN MARKETS
European stock markets rose Monday, as the French government successfully sold Treasury bills and investors shrugged off last week's news that Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone nations, including France, Italy and Spain.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 0.8% to end at 251.12 after spending most of the session swinging between small gains and losses. France, which was stripped of its prized triple-A credit rating, sold Treasury bills Monday, with borrowing costs declining from levels seen a week ago. The French CAC-40 index rose 0.9% to 3,225, with shares of semiconductor firm STMicroelectronics NV rallying 7.2%. French bank shares also posted gains; Societe Generale SA climbed 1.3%, Credit Agricole SA gained 1.1%, while BNP Paribas SA rose 1.6%.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index climbed 0.4% to 5,657.44, as media and publishing company Pearson PLC rose 2.7%. The biggest loser in the FTSE 100 was cruise firm Carnival PLC. Its shares dropped nearly 17% in London, after the company's Costa Concordia ship ran aground off the coast of Italy Friday, resulting in the deaths of at least five people. Lundin Petroleum AB's shares fell 14.3% in Stockholm after the Swedish oil and gas firm said that oil resources at its Avaldsnes discovery off the coast of Norway may be lower than first estimated. Germany's DAX 30 index rose 1.3% to 6,220.01, supported by a 3.6% gain for car maker Daimler AG and a 2.6% rise for rival BMW AG.

Goldman Sachs Monday reiterated its conviction buy recommendation on BMW and Fiat SpA, and added Daimler to its conviction-buy list. The broker also upgraded premium tire maker Pirelli & C. SpA to buy and added it to its conviction-buy list. In addition, Goldman upgraded Italy's truck and agricultural-equipment firm, Fiat Industrial SpA, to buy and French auto group Renault SA to neutral. In Milan, Fiat jumped 7%, Fiat Industrial rose 3.9%, and Pirelli climbed 4.9%. In Paris, Renault gained 2.9%.

ASIAN MARKETS

Asian stock markets fell Monday, with mainland Chinese stocks falling for a fourth-straight session, as a string of euro-zone downgrades from Standard & Poor's and stalled debt talks in Greece thrust Europe's crisis back into the spotlight. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.4%, South Korea's Kospi declined 0.9%, China's Shanghai Composite shed 1.7%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1% and Taiwan's Taiex shed 1.1%, with President Ma Ying-jeou's election victory unable to dent the Europe-inspired gloom. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut France and Austria's triple-A credit ratings by one notch Friday, in addition to also lowering the ratings of Italy, Spain, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia, Portugal and Cyprus.

Meanwhile, Greece's talks with private-sector creditors broke down Friday. Several financial firms lost heavily across Asia. Nomura Holdings dropped 2.8% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shed 2.7% in Tokyo, Shinhan Financial Group gave up 2.1% in Seoul and Chinatrust Financial Holding fell 4.2% in Taipei. Shares of China Life Insurance fell 3.3% and Ping An Insurance Group lost 2.5% in Hong Kong; in Shanghai, the two stocks shed 0.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

Shipping shares also suffered notable losses. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha dropped 3.8% in Tokyo and Hanjin Shipping fell 1.6% in Seoul, while Hong Kong-listed China Cosco Holdings shed 3.8% in Hong Kong and 2.2% in Shanghai. China Southern Airlines slumped 8.6% and Air China shed 5.1% in Hong Kong after Citigroup downgraded the stocks to sell; in Shanghai, they fell 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively. European-exposed exporters posted steep losses in Japan, as the euro sank to a fresh 11-year low against the Japanese yen. Mazda Motor dropped 3.1%, while Sony gave up 2.3%.

COMMODITIES

Base metals closed mostly higher amid relatively subdued trade on the London Metal Exchange Monday, as investors looked ahead to a busy schedule of economic data the following session. At the close, LME three-month copper was 1.1% higher at $8,089 a metric ton, while aluminum was 0.9% higher at $2,162.50/ton. With many U.S. market players away from their desks for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, trading activity was rather muted Monday, despite early losses on the back of Friday's credit rating cuts by Standard & Poor's.