EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: European bourses at highs, NVIDIA -2% after China says it violated anti-monopoly law

STOXX 600: +0.5%

• European bourses are broadly firmer across the board, in contrast to an overall mixed session in APAC trade. Price action this morning has really only been upwards, with indices currently trading at highs.


• From a regional perspective, the FTSE 100 lags a touch with heavyweight AstraZeneca moving lower after it paused its investment in the region (discussed below). For France, the CAC 40 is outperforming today with upside in Luxury names (due to increased hopes of Chinese stimulus), seemingly outweighing the Fitch downgrade on France – which will cast a grey cloud over PM Lecornu’s first budget draft.


• Docket in Europe has been relatively light aside from the German Wholesale Price Index; Y/Y printed a touch above expected – no move in contracts at the time.


• For the markets more broadly, focus has been on the US-China talks in Madrid. US President Trump said talks with China are going well; Treasury Secretary Bessent said the two countries have made good progress on technical details, adding that Chinese counterparts have an "aggressive ask". However, in the midst of all this, China’s Commerce Ministry said it is to immediately open an antidumping investigation into certain US analogue chips. Moreover, the Chinese Market Regulator said it will continue its investigation into NVIDIA after it found that the Co. violated anti-monopoly law - a couple of stories which may limit progress between US and China.

Sectors: Positive

• European sectors hold a strong positive bias, with only a couple of sectors residing in negative territory.


• Consumer Products takes the top spot, largely boosted by gains in Luxury names following the disappointing Chinese Activity Data, which has increased calls for the country to implement further fiscal stimulus. LVMH (+2%), Hermes (+1%) and Kering (+3%) all move higher – it is also worth highlighting that today marks the start of London Fashion Week 2025; unlikely to have any significant market implications.


• Financial Services is found in second spot; UBS (+1.3%) gains following reports via the NY Post which reported that the Co. could move to the US as it seeks to avoid new capital requirements in Switzerland. It was reported that senior UBS execs have met with officials in US President Trump's administration, to discuss the strategy shift which could also include the acquisition/merger of a US bank.


• It is also worth highlighting that the STOXX 600 Europe Total Market Aerospace & Defence sector (SXPARO) has soared to record highs after US President Trump said he is ready to impose major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations; reports that Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a Russian drone entered Romania’s airspace on Sunday, is also factoring.


• To bottom of the pile is Healthcare, with AstraZeneca (-3.5%) dragging the sector down. The UK pharma giant announced it has paused its GBP 200mln investment in its Cambridge research site, which essentially means none of its previously announced (GBP 650mln) investment package in the region is going ahead.

Movers:

• J Sainsbury +5.5%; terminated discussions with JD.com as proposal was deemed not in the best interests of Sainsbury's shareholders, colleagues, and stakeholders.


• Edenred -1.2%, downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein


• S4 Capital -7.1%; cuts rev. outlook.


• Orsted -2%; to sell shares at 67% discount in USD 9.4bln rights issue.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.1%, NQ U/C, RTY +0.2%

• US equity futures are mixed, with some very slight underperformance in the NQ after China said its preliminary probe found that NVIDIA (-2% pre-market) violated anti-monopoly law, via Bloomberg.


• In more detail, the Chinese Market Regulator said it is to continue its antitrust investigation into the Co.; as a reminder, China's antitrust regulator launched an investigation into NVIDIA in December 2024, in relation to its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies.


• The US Day sees the release of the NY Fed manufacturing gauge for September, where the headline is seen paring to 5.0 from 11.9. Elsewhere, the Senate is scheduled to vote Monday night on Stephen Miran’s nomination to the Fed board, with a procedural vote at 17:30EDT/22:30BST, and a final confirmation vote around 20:00EDT/01:00BST, potentially allowing him to participate in this week's Fed rate meeting.

15 Sep 2025 - 10:05- ForexEU Research- Source: Newsquawk