June 30, 2021: -The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.3% by late morning, with autos adding 0.9%, while travel and leisure slid 0.4%.

On Tuesday, the positive start for Europe bucks the trend set in Asia-Pacific, where shares retreated despite overnight gains on Wall Street, which saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite close at record highs. On Tuesday, the U.S. stock futures point to a flat open. Oil prices tumbled overnight as flare-ups of Covid-19 infections threaten to dent fuel demand.

Concerns regarding the rapid spread of the new highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant have dented sentiment in Asia-Pacific, with few countries in the region battling outbreaks.

The global investors look ahead to potentially significant U.S. labor market data later in the week as markets gauge if the U.S. Federal Reserve will be forced to consider tightening monetary policy sooner than planned. In addition, the Labor Department’s critical jobs report is due Friday.

On Monday, Back in Europe, European Central Bank policymakers began a public discussion about when and how to wind down the massive emergency bond purchase program launched in the previous year to support the eurozone economy through the pandemic.

According to the European Commission’s monthly sentiment survey, Eurozone economic sentiment rallied to a 21-year high in June as further reopening boosted optimism. Economic sentiment rose to 117.9 points from 114.5 in May, ahead of a consensus estimate of 116.5 from economists in a Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, eurozone consumer inflation expectations came in at 27.1 in June, up from 22.2 in May, and producer price expectations rose from 29.9 in May to 36.0 in June.

German consumer price index inflation figures are due Tuesday afternoon.

In terms of individual share price movement, French electrical equipment company Rexel climbed 5.9% by late morning trade after raising its 2021 profit guidance.

According to Reuters, Anglo-German travel operator Tui fell 4.2% to the bottom of the index after a convertible bond announcement.