EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: Stocks in narrow ranges awaiting NVIDIA earnings and French PM updates

STOXX 600: U/C

• Bourses boasted gains at the open in a rebound from Tuesday’s losses, though have since moved to the unchanged mark as the risk environment soured throughout the morning.
• STOXX 600 trades within a thin 553 to 556 range at the time of writing.
• The likely next driver for global stocks will be NVIDIA earnings, which are expected after the US market closes. Aside from the tech behemoth's earnings, the docket is light. There are no notable data releases or ECB speakers, and we expect supply from Germany and the US following a poor UK auction this morning.
• The CAC 40 outperforms this morning following its large losses on Tuesday. Should French PM Bayrou not pass the confidence vote (most likely the outcome), punters’ favourite is Sébastien Lecornu, according to Le Parisien.
• Milan-listed stocks underperform amid the index’s exposure to banks, which underperform today after Goldman Sachs downgraded CBK GY, and DBK GY.

Sectors: Mixed

• Sectors began with a positive bias though have bled red in recent trade; we are now mixed.
• Banks underperform after Goldman Sachs downgraded both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, which are both lower by -2.8%. GS cited fair, and high valuations for both names.
• At the top of the pile is Consumer Products and Services, helped by a rebound in its French-listed constituents LVMH and L’Oreal, +1.3% & +0.4% respectively.

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

• Stateside futures are mixed into NVIDIA earnings; for a full primer see the Newsquawk headline feed.
• ES and NQ traded unchanged for the entire morning, while RTY sits a little lower after recent gains.
• The US Day sees the release of weekly MBA mortgage applications data, and another round of comments from the Fed’s 2027 voter Barkin. Notable corporate earnings due today include Snowflake (SNOW), CrowdStrike (CRWD), HP Inc. (HPQ), Kohl’s (KSS), and, of course, NVIDIA. While close attention will be on the quarterly metrics, participants will be attentively focusing on any commentary surrounding the agreement struck with the US government that will see them take 15% of any China revenue. On this, KeyBanc expects Nvidia to post strong July-quarter results but may guide cautiously for October due to China-related risks.