(fxcue news) - European stocks traded higher at two-week highs on Monday after Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager and an advocate for deficit reduction, to lead the U.S. Treasury Department. Rate cut hope also fueled gains after ECB chief economist Phillip Lane said that monetary policy should not remain restrictive for too long and that the job is not done yet on inflation. The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.3 percent at 510.04 after rallying 1.2 percent on Friday. The German DAX gained 0.4 percent despite a measure of business climate worsening in November. The headline German IFO Business Climate Index fell to 85.7 in November from 86.5 in October. France's CAC 40 index jumped 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.4 percent. In corporate news, Italy's UniCredit lost 4 percent after launching a €10.1bn takeover bid for smaller domestic rival Banco BPM. Shares of the latter rallied 2.5 percent. Commerzbank slumped 5.6 percent. German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Sunday he did not expect UniCredit to go ahead with plans for a takeover of the German lender due to objections raised by the government in Berlin. Automakers BMW, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen were moving higher in the wake of reports that China and the EU are nearing a solution over eliminating tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports into the bloc. Atos SE shares jumped nearly 44 percent. The multinational information technology service and consulting company announced that the French State has made a non-binding proposal to buy 100 percent of the Advanced Computing activities of its BDS division for 500 million euros, based on an enterprise value for a period until May 31, 2025. Airbus SE, an aeronautics and space company, added 1.5 percent after it announced the launch of a second tranche of its share buyback program, aiming to repurchase up to 2.12 million shares, between November 25 and January 24, 2025. Anglo American advanced 1.6 percent after Peabody Energy won a hotly contested battle to buy the miner's steelmaking coal mines in Australia for $3.78bn. Drug maker AstraZeneca edged up slightly after announcing positive high-level results from CAPItello-281 Phase III trial of Truqap (capivasertib). Rentokil Initial rallied 2.3 percent. The commercial pest control services company announced that Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson will join the Board as Chief Financial Officer, with effect from January 1, 2025. Home improvement retailer Kingfisher plunged more than 12 percent after lowering its profit outlook. InterContinental Hotels Group gained 1 percent after signing new agreements with its existing issuing and financial services partners to continue offering co-branded IHG One Rewards credit cards in the U.S.