EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: Bourses broadly lower after a slight dip in sentiment

STOXX 600: U/C

European bourses opened around the unchanged mark, but sentiment then slipped as markets turned risk-off across the board in the continent. That pressure has since slowed down a little and are off worst levels – but indices are still broadly lower.
European docket today has included a UK Jobs report, which was largely in-line; the unemployment rate remained at 4.7%, whilst earnings ticked higher (in-line with expectations). No move in FTSE 100 futures at the time. As for Germany, German ZEW Economic Sentiment ticked higher and topped expectations whilst Conditions were a little lower; "Financial market experts are cautiously optimistic and the ZEW indicator has stabilised, but the economic situation has worsened" - no move in contracts or cash seen on this. Data aside, there have been a couple of ECB speakers today; Kazaks said the reduction in the ECB rates is already very significant, whilst Villeroy focused on France. He said that French growth is not strong enough, but remains positive – this follows on from the Bank of France cutting its growth forecasts for 2026 and 2027.
More broadly for the Fed, the US Appeals Court rejected US President Trump’s bid to fire Cook, meaning she will now be able to attend the FOMC's September 16th-17th meeting. As for Stephen Miran, the Senate confirmed him to join the Fed board.
Data docket for the remainder of the day is light from a European perspective, but focus will be on potential commentary from ECB’s Escriva.

Sectors: Negative

European sectors are broadly on the backfoot, in-fitting with the risk tone.
IT is towards the top of the pile, boosted by strength across Dutch semiconductor names; nothing really driving the upside today, but it does come after ASML (+3%) once again overtook SAP, to become Europe’s largest company.
Consumer Staples is found towards the bottom of the pile; Unilever (-1%) moves lower after it appointed a new CFO. The CEO said that the appointment “brings financial rigour, strategic clarity”. On the other hand, Danone (+0.3%) moves higher after the Co. received an upgrade to Buy from Underperform at Jefferies; analysts highlight that whilst "creamers are still challenged", the momentum in protein dairy has "exceeded expectations".

Movers:

Kier +8%; FY missed headline consensus, but noted FY26 is trading ahead of expectations.
Anglo American +0.9%; Anglo American and Codelco finalise agreement; Canadian PM Carney told Anglo American it must relocate its HQ to Canada.
Beiersdorf -1.4%; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, analysts write that its Nivea brand has stalled YTD, but would need to sustain 4% organic sales for "the stock to work".
L'Oreal -2.1%; downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies
easyJet -2.1%; downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
Novo Nordisk +0.5%; Wegovy survey showed 46% reduction in constant intrusive thoughts about food.
Schindler -3.5%: Holder offers 600k shares; ABB priced at CHF 285/shr; final deal size circa. USD 215mln.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.2%, NQ +0.2%, RTY +0.2%

Futures are incrementally firmer today, continuing the upside seen in the prior session, ahead of US Retail Sales.
Key stories: Reuters reports that NVIDIA’s RTX6000D AI chip has “lukewarm” demand, and is seen as not “cost-effective”; shares -0.1% pre-market. Elsewhere, Microsoft (+0.4% pre-market) lifted its dividend by 10%.
Day ahead: The pace of gains in US retail sales data are expected to pare back in August. Analysts expect US retail sales to rise +0.2% M/M in August (prev. 0.5%), while the ex-autos measure is seen rising +0.4% M/M, matching the July reading, and the Retail Control group is seen +0.4% M/M (prev. +0.5%). US import prices are seen -0.1% M/M (prev. +0.4%), and export prices are seen unchanged (prev. +0.1% M/M). US industrial production is seen falling by -0.1% M/M (prev. -0.1%), manufacturing output is seen -0.2% (prev. 0.0%), and capacity utilisation is seen at 77.4% (prev. 77.5%).
In a recent note, Morgan Stanley writes that they continue to lean towards a 7200 bull case for the S&P 500, by the middle of next year. Analysts cite “better and broader” earnings growth and a deteriorating labour market in the coming months could see the Fed turn more dovish, which would boost stocks.