EUROPEAN EQUITY UPDATE: A firmer start to the final session of the week, continuing the post-data price action

STOXX 600: +0.6%

• European bourses opened modestly firmer across the board, and have traded with an upward bias this morning.


• Newsflow has been quiet today, with no material fresh trade updates to note given US President Trump is away in the Middle East – as a reminder, the President signed a USD 1.4tln AI deal with the UAE.


• European docket saw final Italian CPI (revised slightly higher); focus now turns to ECB’s Lane later in the afternoon.

Sectors: Positive

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


• Healthcare takes the top spot, with gains in the sector seemingly broad-based. In terms of stock-specific stories, Sanofi (+2.2%) gains after it received FDA orphan designation for treating sickle cell disease. Bayer (+3.5%) benefits from an FT report which suggested it is seeking a Roundup settlement (details below).


• Tech sits towards the foot of the pile, albeit with very modest losses. Some interesting reports via the FT suggest that US President Trump's administration is reportedly split on adding Chinese chip makers to export blacklists as some US officials fear the move could jeopardise trade talks with Beijing.

Key movers:

• Richemont (+4.2%) gains after its FY results, reporting a beat on its top-line, though slightly missed on its Op. Profit figure. Its CEO highlighted that it sees an “active and positive” market for jewellery maisons. Further, the board proposes to pay an ordinary dividend of CHF 3.00/shr.


• Bayer (+3.5%) gains after the WSJ reported that it is seeking a new settlement over Roundup cancer claims, and is preparing a potential bankruptcy filing for its US Monsanto unit if talks fail.


• Rio Tinto (U/C) is to invest USD 1.2bln to improve Quebec hydro plant; project to run until 2032.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.1%, NQ +0.2%, RTY +0.3%

• Futures are very modestly in positive territory, continuing a similar theme seen in the prior session.


• In terms of pre-market movers; Take-Two (-2.9%) dips after reporting in-line results, with more focus on USD 3.55bln impairment charges. Elsewhere, Applied Materials (-5.5%) slips after missing on rev. expectations due to uncertainty regarding export controls.


• Docket ahead is relatively light aside from; April's import prices are expected to fall by -0.4% M/M (prev. -0.1%), and export prices are seen -0.5% M/M (prev. 0.0). University of Michigan prelim sentiment data for May is expected to see the headline rise to 53.4 from 52.2, while conditions are seen little changed (at 59.6 from 59.8) and expectations are seen ticking up a little (to 48.0 from 47.3); attention will be on the inflation metrics (previously, the 1yr ahead expectation was at 6.5%, while the 5-10yr gauge was at 4.4%).

16 May 2025 - 09:55- ForexData- Source: Newsquawk