Share markets showed they do like Mondays (November 4) for once...

Starting the European week at their highest level in nearly two years ...

On hopes a U.S.-China trade agreement could be in the offing.

Wilbur Ross was partly to thank for the feelgood factor.

The US Commerce Secretary's thinks - he said on Sunday (November 3) - there's no reason a deal could not be signed this month.

Asian shares already surged on the sentiment.

China's yuan hit a 12-week high.

While in Europe, traders on the DAX - which was up over a per cent mid-morning - had their fingers crossed too.

Richard Hunter of Interactive Investor says recent data is also helping.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD HUNTER, HEAD OF MARKETS, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR, SAYING:

"In terms of China, some of the manufacturing figures coming out of them last week also not too bad. So those two things have come together with some rather more positive noises coming away from the trade spat. And that's why we find ourselves in positive territory."

Auto shares were winners.

With a 3 per cent rise, they logged the biggest sector gains on the Euro Stoxx 600.

Miners - seen as hyper-sensitive to tariff disputes - were also up strongly.

For individual stocks, there were other headlines:

Ryanair added around 7 per cent after beating first-half profit expectations.

Siemens Healthineers hit a record high on its better-than-expected Q4 numbers.

But there were - some - losers.

Dutch oil storage company Vopak fell over 3 per cent on disappoint earnings ...

And the euro dipped just before Christine Lagarde was due to give her first speech as the ECB president.

With the day's key PMI data showing euro zone factory activity stuck in reverse, markets assume she'll have little choice but to stick with the ultra-loose monetary policies of her predecessor.