European defense stocks fall amid focus on Russia-Ukraine peace talks and US-Iran nuclear negotiations

Glonghui, February 17th｜European defense stocks declined as the market focused on a new round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Geneva and the US-Iran nuclear negotiations. Mediobanca gave Hensoldt an initial "underperform" rating due to valuation concerns. A basket of defense stocks tracked by Bloomberg fell as much as 1.3%; Hensoldt led the decline, dropping as much as 4% in Frankfurt trading. However, the sector is still up 11% so far this year, with a 1.7% gain on Monday, continuing Friday's 2.5% rally.