EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: Broadly higher in Europe whilst US equity futures are flat

STOXX 600: +0.3%

• European bourses are firmer across the board, but to varying degrees; outperformers in Europe today include the CAC 40 and FTSE MIB, whilst the AEX (pressured by a pullback in Tech names) and the FTSE 100 (UK assets shunned today) underperform.


• In Asia, the Nikkei 225 initially rallied at the open in reaction to the latest Japanese inflation metrics, which softened from the prior, but then saw some pressure into and on the BoJ. The Bank kept rates steady (as expected) but surprisingly announced it would begin selling its ETF and J-REIT holdings, albeit at a very slow pace.


• Docket today has included some key data points from the UK; Retail Sales were largely better than expected whilst the UK borrowing surged in August, putting added pressure on Chancellor Reeve’s ahead of the Autumn Budget in November. UK aside, German Producer Prices printed short of expectations.


• European focus now on ECB’s Lagarde, and then to the US, where several speakers are due (detailed in the US section).

Sectors: Positive

• European sectors hold a slight positive bias, with only a few industries found in negative territory.


• Autos takes the top spot today, with gains driven by upside in Stellantis (+4.5%) which benefits from a broker upgrade at Berenberg. The Construction & Materials sector follows behind, and is buoyed by strength in Vinci (+1%) after the Co. received a EUR 885mln contract related to Rail Baltica Electrification.


• Media is found right at the foot of the pile, albeit with modest losses. Tech is also very marginally lower, seemingly scaling back some of the significant upside seen in the prior session after the IT sector surged more than 5.6% in the prior session. Much of Thursday’s upside was driven by ASML (-0.5%), which received a PT upgrade at BofA following the NVIDIA-Intel partnership; PT was raised to EUR 941 (prev. EUR 724); analysts noted that a more competitive Intel should be a positive for semiconductor equipment companies.

Others:

• Stabilus -5.4%; Co. is to streamline structure and reduce costs.


• Wizz Air -0.6%; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank


• DHL -0.3%; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank


• Defence: BAE Systems (+1%) initiated with Buy; Thales (-1%) & Leonardo (+0.2%) initiated with Sell at GS

US Equity Futures: ES, NQ & RTY U/C

• Futures are flat, following on from a session of significant gains in the prior session in the aftermath of the FOMC and as traders reacted to the mega NVIDIA-Intel deal.


• The main focus today will be on a call between Presidents Trump and Xi, who are due to speak at 14:00BST/09:00EDT. Canadian retail sales are seen falling -0.8% M/M in July (prev. +1.5%), with the ex-autos measure seen falling by -0.7% M/M (prev. +1.9%). On the speakers' slate, new Fed Governor Miran will make a couple of media appearances today, where he is expected to outline his arguments for calling for a jumbo 50bps Fed rate cut this week.


• Movers: FedEx shares gain 4.8% in pre-market trade after it topped expectations in Q1, on higher US package volumes lifting results, though its freight unit was weaker. Management highlighted resilience despite global trade headwinds, including the loss of the de minimis exception.

19 Sep 2025 - 10:00- EquitiesEU Research- Source: Newsquawk