European markets close lower as Iran reportedly makes peace proposal

European stocks fell Monday as investors keep an eye on Iran-U.S. peace talk developments and look ahead to central bank meetings.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 gave up morning gains to finish the day 0.3% lower, with major bourses and sectors painting a mixed picture.

Bank stocks were muted ahead of a flurry of quarterly earnings updates from European lenders later this week, including Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and others.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 0.9% on Monday, reaching $106.37 per barrel, as U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 0.7% to $95.07.

Iran on Sunday reportedly made a new proposal ​to the U.S. to ​reopen the Strait ⁠of ​Hormuz and ​end the war, and for ​nuclear talks ​to be postponed to a ‌later date, Axios reported on Sunday, citing ​a ​U.S. ⁠official and two ​sources with ​knowledge ⁠of the matter.

That comes after U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday scrapped plans to send U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad in Pakistan for talks with Iran.

“Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding: “Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards; they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at the weekend that no meetings between Tehran and Washington were planned.